Terrace Walk was formally the home of Bath’s first Assembly Rooms. The Lower Assembly Rooms or Harrison’s Assembly Rooms was erected in the early 1700.
Largely destroyed by a fire in December 1820, the building was rebuilt to house the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI).
The building in the first instance over looked a bowling lawn which was developed into The Institution Garden, which have since become Parade Gardens. In
1930s the building was fully demolished to make way for a new road and public toilets.
The public toilets were closed in the 1960s and a night club (the Island club0 followed. The club was closed in 1994 and the site has remain vacant for the last 30 years.
As a result the area has become neglected. It is overshadowed by coach parking and the highway isn’t designed to support to the current level of traffic in the city centre.
Terrace Walk falls within site allocation SB2 of the Local Plan. It identifies the potential for a new building for cultural uses on the site of the former BRLSI building and the creative reuse of the voids and vaults surrounding Parade Gardens.
It also supports the re-imagining of Parade Gardens as a 21st pleasure garden and highlights the need for radically improved access to the gardens and the river.
The Public Realm and Movement Strategy seeks an enhanced in the public realm to improve pedestrian environment and the setting of surrounding buildings. It also supports the relocation of coach parking.
- Redevelopment of site and repurposing of vaults
- Improved access to Parade Gardens and to the river
- Enhanced access
- Lack of available sites to relocate coach parking
- Heritage environment
- Building height restrictions due to important views in and out of the site
- Site abnormalities
- Immediacy to key transport route