Lansdowne Place East and Lansdowne Crescent, Bath

John Piper 13 Dec 1903 - 1992

Summary

Street scene with terraced houses on a street that curves from the centre to the right. The nearest houses on the right show signs of damage. In the distance, to the left, is a row of regency style buildings with an arched porch at the centre. A rubble strewn road can be seen in the foreground. This road curves towards the buildings in the background. John Piper was commissioned by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee from 1940 to 1942 to record the devastating effects of the war on the British landscape. Here, Piper documents the effects of bomb damage on a classical terrace of townhouses. Historic towns were targeted in the Baedeker raids, so called because the targets were said to be selected from travel guidebooks published by the German firm Baedeker. Piper produced a series of watercolours focused on the Georgian domestic architecture of the Lansdowne area of Bath where the bomb damage was greatest. 1800 houses were left uninhabitable by the raids.