The Royal Crescent was built to the designs of John Wood the Younger between 1767 and 1774 and represents the highest point of palladian architecture in Bath.

The Crescent comprises a series of 30 adjoining houses each with five floors overlooking The Royal Crescent Lawns with it's Ha-Ha Wall and The Royal Victoria Park.

Number 1 The Royal Crescent was the first of the houses to be built. Its foundation stone was laid in 1767 and the house first leased to Thomas Brock in 1769. Among subsequent distinguished occupants, records show that the Duke of York, second son of George III, 'engaged the first house in the Royal Crescent' in 1776.

By 1968 'Number 1' was a lodging house and had fallen into disrepair. Major Bernard Cayzer, a member of the shipping family, acquired the house and gave it to The Bath Preservation Trust. Both the interior and exterior have been acurately restored so visitors can now enjoy the grand town house redecorated and furnished to show how it might have appeared in the late 18th century.