Paragon, Bath

The Paragon in Bath, located in the Walcot area, is a gently curving Georgian terrace that reflects the city’s late-18th-century expansion. Built from 1768 and designed by Thomas Warr Attwood, it is defined by a sequence of uniform houses that are all listed buildings. Numbers 1 to 21 are three-storey houses with mansard roofs, arranged in a symmetrical pattern with matching doors and windows. Classical details such as central pediments, flat entablatures, and doorways framed by Tuscan pilasters reinforce the street’s refined character. This design continues seamlessly through numbers 22 to 37, which were completed in 1775 by mason Joseph Axford.

The site may trace its origins to an earlier route, possibly linked to a Roman road leading north from Aquae Sulis toward the Fosse Way, though later mapping suggests a medieval origin. By the time of Jane Austen, the area had become a desirable residential quarter. Austen stayed at No. 1 The Paragon with her aunt on two occasions in the late 1790s, including a period when she was searching for a permanent home in Bath. These visits offered her an early view of the city’s social life, later reflected in her novels.