The Bath That Might Have Been Exhibition

Bath & North East Somerset Council's Victoria Art Gallery is staging an exhibition of architectural schemes for the city that have been proposed, but that never came to fruition.

Every year thousands of visitors from around the world flock to Bath to admire its Georgian architecture. The city centre as it stands today is the realisation of grandiose schemes by John Wood the Elder, his son Wood the Younger and Thomas Baldwin. The classical crescents, squares and terraces that they designed are among the finest buildings in the country.

Few people realise that Bath could have all too easily ended up looking very different, and it is this aspect of the city’s history that is examined in this major exhibition. From the time of John Wood, right up to the present day, all sorts of architectural schemes for the city have been proposed. Some were wonderful projects that simply failed through lack of funds or vision, others were too ambitious, elaborate and grandiose to be feasible, whilst others were tantamount to vandalism of the Georgian fabric of the city.

Collections Manager Katharine Wall said “This is an exhibition that will amaze, shock and delight anyone with an interest in architectural conservation or a love of Bath’s famous Georgian architecture”.

This exhibition features two major schemes for Bath that came to nothing. Firstly, plans produced during World War I by London based architect Robert Atkinson, which included the construction of a gigantic Roman style ‘Forum’ next to Bath Abbey, with a huge concert hall modelled on a Roman temple.

Secondly, the post-World War II plans inspired by town planning supremo Patrick Abercrombie, to make Bath into a more ‘rationally’ arranged city, with separate zones for leisure, commerce and health. This would have necessitated the demolition of swathes of the city centre, and included proposals for dual carriageways across Bath, and, perhaps worst of all, a plan to turn the Royal Crescent into a new civic centre.

Large watercolours depicting these schemes will be exhibited, many of which have not been displayed in living memory. They are guaranteed to surprise and intrigue locals and tourists alike, with their tantalising glimpses of how the city could so easily have developed.

Complementing this material will be plans, drawings and ideas for a multitude of other schemes, including Victorian idea for ‘improving’ the Royal Crescent lawns with elaborate fountains, a spoof proposal from the 1930s for covering Bath’s elegant Georgian Pump Room with neon advertisements, and recent proposals for the regeneration of the city’s spa.

Venue

Victoria Art Gallery, Central Bath

Dates

5 Apr 2008 - 1 Jun 2008