The Twentieth Century Society

Campaigning for outstanding buildings

C20 leads fight to save Art Deco Bath Fire Station from demolition

Bath Fire Station, Cleveland Bridge, Bath – Alfred J. Taylor and Molly Taylor, 1938

Image credit: Andrew Jankunas

C20 Society is leading efforts to save Bath Fire Station from proposed demolition. The 1930s classical Art Deco building was a rare pre-war project by a female architect, and the station went on to play a crucial role in protecting the city during the ‘Baedeker Blitz’ air-raids of 1942.

Avon Fire & Rescue Service recently announced plans to redevelop the station, which would involve the demolition of the existing building and rebuilding on the same site – ‘modernising the facility to meet the demands of contemporary firefighting’. Following a tip-off from a member of the public, the Society has submitted a listing application to Historic England.

The case calls to mind the controversial demolition of the 1930s Churchill House. The neo-Georgian municipal building originally housed the Electricity Board, and was levelled in 2007 despite widespread protests, to make way for the new Bath Bus Station and SouthGate development. This led to the city’s status as a World Heritage Site being reviewed by UNESCO in 2009.

Bath Fire Station, pictured circa 1960

Image credit: Bath in Time

‘A woman’s touch’

Design work on Bath Fire Station began in 1937, led by architect Alfred J. Taylor. Taylor died on 25th December 1938, after which his architect daughter Molly Taylor took over the project and brought it to completion.

Liet-Col. Sir Vivian Henderson, who opened the station in 1939, reportedly said “I am glad that you have had the wisdom to employ as your architect a lady to design this building. As a married man I know full well the meaning of a woman’s touch, and for those who will have to work here it will be a comfort to have that same touch here.” (‘Lady Architect Praised’, Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 29 July 1939).

Prior to this project, Molly Taylor also designed Kilowatt House (1937-8), a remarkable private house which was described by Pevsner as ‘Bath’s only Modern Movement house’, and is now Grade II listed. Molly Taylor (later credited as Mrs Molly Gerrard) was practicing at a time when there were very few women architects and her involvement adds considerable historic interest to the Fire Station.

Kilowatt House, Bath – Molly Gerrard (née Taylor), 1937-38

Image credit: The Move Market

UNESCO World Heritage Site

The well-balanced and carefully composed station was designed to sit harmoniously within Bath’s historic core. It is located close to Cleveland Bridge (1826, Grade II*), which crosses the River Avon and leads into the city centre, and within the Bath Conservation Area, and the UNESCO City of Bath World Heritage Site.

It is a refined, two-storey building, clad in honey-coloured Bath stone and in a classicising Art Deco style. The station accommodates five appliance bays between stylised Doric pilasters with fluted capitals, with a stepped architrave running over the doors, and a relief carving of the coat of arms of the city of Bath and a cornice above. A six storey stepped drill tower, also in Bath stone, is in a yard to the rear of the station.

While the original appliance doors have been replaced – as is to be expected for a working fire station – and the central flagpole and ‘City of Bath Fire Station’ lettering have been removed at some point, the stations external appearance is otherwise as-built. Internally, original tiled finishes, parquet flooring and moulded architraves are also believed to still survive in-situ.

Original plans for Bath Fire Station, 1937

Image credit: Somerset Archives

Fire station heritage

As a fire station built in the lead-up to WWII, Bath can be compared to the listed stations of the period. Wembley Fire Station in Brent (Grade II) was built in 1937-9 for Wembley Urban District Council, one of the reasons stated for designation being its “special historic interest in having been designed and built during a period of preparation for war”. Nottingham Fire Station (Grade II) built in 1938-40, was also listed partly for its historic interest, being “illustrative of the unique political and economic context of the pre-war period during which it was built”. Also of note are Northampton Fire Station (Grade II) 1934-5 and Lambeth Fire Station (Grade II) 1936-38, though these are so-called ‘super stations’ of the 1930s, on a different scale to the small station at Bath.

The only listed post-war fire station in Britain is Tollcross in Edinburgh (1986). The Charles Rennie Mackintosh-inspired building was heralded as one of the best examples of Postmodernism in Scotland and designated Category B in 2022, following support from C20 Society.

Tollcross Fire Station, Edinburgh – Lothian Regional Council Department of Architectural Services, 1986

Image credit: John East