Royal Fort House

Royal Fort House
Location within Bristol
General information
Architectural style	Baroque, Palladian and Rococo
Town or city	Bristol
Country	England
Coordinates	51°27′30″N 2°36′13″W / 51.4583°N 2.6035°W / 51.4583; -2.6035
Construction started	1758
Completed	1761
Client	Thomas Tyndall
Design and construction
Architect	James Bridges
Engineer	Thomas Paty

The Royal Fort House is a historic house in Tyndalls Park, Bristol. The building currently houses the University of Bristol's Faculty of Science offices, the Institute for Advanced Studies, Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research and the Cabot Institute.

The house was built for Thomas Tyndall KCB, in the 18th century, on the site of bastions which were fought over during the English Civil War and demolished in 1655. The Baroque, Palladian and Rococo styles of architecture are because of the work of three different architects: James Bridges, Thomas Paty, John Wallis. The garden was laid out by Humphry Repton around 1800.

The house was constructed on the site of a Civil War fortification, which had two bastions on the inside of the lines and three on the outside. It was the strongest part of the defences of Bristol, designed by Dutch military engineer Sir Bernard de Gomme. It was one of the few purpose-built defensive works of the war era. The fort was designed as the western headquarters of the Royalist army under Prince Rupert. Royalists retreated into the fort when the Parliamentarians had broken through the lines in the siege of 1645, before eventually surrendering to Cromwell's forces.

The fort was demolished around 1655. The "Royal" in the name was in honour of Prince Rupert, when he was made Governor of Bristol. An archaeological investigation in 2009 discovered a defence ditch, two bastions and the possible foundations of a defensive wall on the summit of St Michaels' Hill.

The design of the mid-eighteenth-century house by James Bridges, for Thomas Tyndall KCB, was a compromise between the separate designs of architects Thomas Paty, John Wallis and himself. This led to different classical styles: Baroque, Palladian and Rococo, for three of the facades of the house. It was built between 1758 and 1761, by Thomas Paty with plasterwork by Thomas Stocking.