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Bennett Street, BATH, BA1 2QJ

Located on the corner of Bennett Street and Circus Place. The museum opened here in 1993, in a restored Georgian house. It is the only museum in the UK dedicated solely to the arts and cultures of East and SE Asia. It houses a collection of ceramics, jades, bronzes and many other items from China, Japan, Korea and SE Asia.

Northern entrance to The Circus http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2204612

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Originally four houses built circa 1773. The houses were converted into The Regina Hotel in the late 19th century. Badly damaged in WWII, it was restored and converted into flats. Listed along with the railings, grade II, with details and history at: https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1406034

A benchmark (as listed in the Database http://www.bench-marks.org.uk/bm38548 ), discretely sited at the corner of a house adjoining the junction with Bennett Street. The elegant arc of the northern side of The Circus forms the background.

The elder John Wood's magnum opus, at least in Bath. It's circular form with three evenly-spaced breaks for roads is quite possibly unique in British architecture. The verticality imparted by the tiers of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns (Image]), not a million miles away from the Colosseum, is countered by the relentless horizontals of the copiously decorated entablatures (Image]). Built from 1754 to 1766, completed by Wood's son after his father's death. The apparent Georgian order belies the fact that the houses vary in size - three or four bays - and some have entrances in the side roads. Grade I listed. As can be seen in the foreground the houses were entered via a bridge from the street. The area enclosed below led to vaults, probably for storing coal which could be delivered directly from the pavement above via coal holes. Wood intended for the central area to be paved and tree-less. Impressive though they are, the giant planes make it harder to appreciate his original conception in the round.