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Even in the present age Bath is as happily situated for Beautiful works of Architecture as a City can well be. We should take Wood’s words and realise how relevant, possibly even poignant, they are now even more so than in 1749 when he first published his thoughts. Wood was a visionary who created monumental architectural spaces that still inspire and draw awe over 250 years later. The Bath Royal Forum takes its inspiration from John Wood’s (1704-1754) greatest, though unrealised, building project. His plan was intended to equal the magnificence of the ancients. The area in question would have been transformed into a monumental architectural achievement The Royal Forum would have measured a staggering 1,040 feet long by 624 feet wide, it would have been bisected by the canalised Avon, at the centre of which Wood planned a huge octagonal basin of water. Around the sides of the Forum they would have been 50ft wide terraces and behind them, rows of buildings forming the architectural limit looking down on a huge open space. Even before John Wood, Robert Whately imagined Bath as a classical ruin resembling the ancient Roman forum. These references were vivid and relevant to the majority of literate contemporaries due to their experiences on the Grand Tour of Europe, but especially Italy. Even if, like John Wood, they hadn’t actually completed their own tour of Europe, the experience was well documented in paintings, prints and literature of the time. John Wood studied antiquity making detailed surveys of Stonehenge and Stanton Drew before 1740 and was impressed by Celtic history. For Wood Bath could surpass London, just as Versailles had supplanted Paris. It was only reasonable to return to the pre-Roman situation when Bath was a glorious place with temples to the sun and moon; the undisputed capital of the native Britons, a Troy built by the wizard Bladud who was the Trojan’s legitimate heir. John Wood probably wrote his own obituary in which he referred to himself as the restorer of Bath not the builder. He believed that Bath had been an important Roman city and in his designs, he intended to recreate this great city. Classical towns consider the whole effect as opposed to the impact of one particular building. His Buildings, already erected in this City, have been of so great Benefit to this Place in particular, and to the country in general, that while they remain standing Monuments to the World of his Taste in Architecture, they will with grateful Heats be looked on by our latest Posterity, as the Works of that great Benefactor, and the Name WOOD, the Restorer of Bath, with always be sacred here. As Amy Frost so aptly put: 250 years after John Wood’s death, in an age when the advances in material and technology are making it increasingly possible to build the unbuildable, less stands between the dreams of visionary architects and their realisation. With many potential sites in Bath waiting to be re-developed, the question is not how do we cope with the inheritance of John Wood’s achievements, but rather, when will new architecture emerge that will re-affirm the magnificence John Wood envisaged for the City of Bath? We now have the opportunity to celebrate, Bath’s architectural heritage and inspire new groundbreaking visions, respect Bath’s cultural and sporting life to the level it deserves and to give future generations a sustainable Bath, and one to be proud of.
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