Pulteney Bridge

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Pulteney Bridge is a famous stone bridge over the River Avon in Bath, England. It was finished in 1774 and connects the city with the Bathwick estate on the opposite bank. Designed by Robert Adam in a Palladian style, the bridge is one of only four in the world that have shops along the full length on both sides, like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the Rialto in Venice, and Krämerbrücke in Erfurt.

The bridge is named after Frances Pulteney, wife of Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet, whose fortune helped fund the Bathwick development and the new river crossing. At first, Thomas Paty drew up plans, but Robert and James Adam refined the design. The bridge ended up wider than first planned, about 15 meters, to please the local council. Construction started in 1769 and cost around £11,000. The lower arches were built by Reed and Lowther, while the shops were built by Singers and Lankeshere.

In 1792 the bridge was widened again to 18 meters and the sixteen shops were enlarged into six larger ones. Floods in 1799–1800 damaged the north side, and traffic moved to a temporary bridge until repairs finished in 1804. Thomas Telford suggested replacing the bridge with a single cast-iron span, but John Pinch the elder rebuilt it in a version closer to Adam’s design. During the 19th century, shop fronts were altered with cantilevered extensions, and some façades were repainted for advertising.

Pulteney Bridge was made an ancient monument in 1936. The city bought some shops and restored the original façades, completed in time for the Festival of Britain in 1951. It was re-listed as a Grade I building in 1955, and further work in the 1960s and 1970s repaired the soffits and façades. Today the bridge is about 45 meters long and 18 meters wide, built of Bath stone with a Welsh slate roof. It has three arches and two piers in the water, and its southern side shows Adam’s design while the northern side has been altered. The bridge remains a major tourist attraction in Bath, a city famous for its Georgian architecture, and it still carries buses and taxis.