Cream stuccoed Regency terraces lead to a caryatid lined shopping walk and a domed rotunda.
What Montpellier looks like
runs as a single two storey terrace of cream painted ashlar stone, a caryatid figure standing in place of a column between each shopfront. A serpentine parapet tops the row above the cornice. Stone flags pave the shopfront side of the Walk, with cars parked along the road in front toward the Rotunda end. It ends under the dome of the , a former spa pump room with a coffered interior ceiling and a central oculus.
A run of three storey cream stuccoed houses lines , behind black iron balconies and railed basements with round headed doorways at street level. On , a weathered limestone corner building holds shopfronts under projecting console brackets, its top floor left in bare stone rather than render.
Three storey cream rendered houses line south of the Walk, behind iron railings and small front gardens, with a cast plaque fixed between two ground floor windows partway along the row. opens out further on, a curving run of the same pale stucco with wrought iron balconies at first floor.
The Walk continues past to , a sunken shopping precinct built behind the terraces in 1985. Shopfronts along the Walk still keep painted fascia signs and canvas awnings rather than illuminated plastic ones.
Shot in Montpellier
Butterflies, the BBC sitcom, filmed a restaurant scene on Montpellier Walk in its first series. The show returned a few episodes later to the street outside the Montpellier Wine Bar. The 1986 film The Whistle Blower used the same wine bar, on Rotunda Terrace just off Montpellier Street, for a monitored meeting between three of its characters.
Butterflies, 1978 to 1983
The restaurant window on Montpellier Walk
Ria changes her mind about meeting Leonard after looking through a restaurant window on Montpellier Walk, in the first episode of the series. The crew came back to the surrounding streets for later episodes, including a scene outside the Montpellier Wine Bar on Montpellier Street. Street View
What Montpellier can double for
Lansdowne Crescent in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
Lansdowne Crescent and the surrounding streets carry the same cream stucco terraces and iron balconies as Montpellier, raised within a similar couple of decades. Leamington's crescent curves continuously where Montpellier's run is straight, so a tight frame along the pavement holds the match better than a wide one. Try searching cream stucco terraces now.
Great Pulteney Street in Bath, Somerset
Great Pulteney Street has the same classical proportions and porticoed doorways as Montpellier, laid out across a slightly earlier run of decades. Bath's ashlar is a warmer gold than Montpellier's painted stucco, so a desaturated grade or a tighter frame holds the illusion better than a wide colour shot. Try searching classical porticoed doorways now.
Moray Place in Edinburgh, Scotland
Moray Place and the New Town crescents share columned porticoes and a similar massing to Montpellier, though built in sandstone rather than stucco. Edinburgh's buildings run a storey taller and the stone reads darker grey, so a wide establishing shot gives away the difference quickly. Try searching columned sandstone crescent now.
