The new main swimming bath
On reviewing the new premises following the official opening The Looker-On declared that ‘in no part of the building has the [borough] surveyor shown greater adaptive skill than this section… The series of arches which support the roof has surface ornament (in white fibrous plaster by HH Martyn & Co) which shows careful study of Moorish examples, and the general effect is not less satisfactory than the detail. These arches are carried upon the old iron pillars, to which Moorish capitals have been given; and what was a low pitched and unattractive place has been made lofty, architectural, and light. Somewhat of “Mansard” shape, the roof’s nearly vertical sides are glazed… and this substitution of side for top lighting is noteworthy, as the light is better diffused and prevents the growth of vegetation in the water’.
The previous swimming bath had been semi-circular at both ends but now the deep end had been squared off to make it far more suitable for the still-popular aquatic competitions. This amendment helped give the impression of it being larger although at 64 ft 6 in long x 22 ft 6 in wide it was both shorter and narrower than the earliest swimming bath of 1847 (75 ft x 25 ft). Its construction was considered much superior, having a marble bed and tiles for the sides. There were 29 dressing boxes down both of its sides with the novel notion of a red line painted on each door to show swimmers the depth of the water immediately in front of it.
Above these and reached via a staircase on either side of the deep end were balconies for the use of spectators to watch family members swimming, water polo matches, other entertainments. These balconies were occasionally referred to as the Promenade Gallery and benefited from the aforementioned angled glass ceilings; although there were also clusters of electric lights between the columns that supported the arches they were somewhat obscured by large hanging baskets of vegetation!
There were three entrances – one directly from Bath Road (where the current foyer and box office is now), one from the waiting room, and the third, at the other end, from the corridor and office of the third-class baths.
The new small swimming bath
At the end of the first class corridor of wash baths was a large room containing a small swimming bath, approximately 12 feet square, with four small dressing boxes. Although occasionally called a plunge it was used by the bath superintendents to teach swimming but could also be hired out – half a crown for 30 minutes – by families or individuals who wished to swim in private. The walls of the room were decorated in the same manner as the main swimming bath with a marble plinth and red and buff tiling (see photos above) that gave an arched pattern while the bath itself was lined with tiles of opal glass. The Looker-On for 12 September 1900 reported that these tiles had ‘a special preparation at the back that permits them to be secures, and yet is sufficiently elastic to do away with the tendency to “craze” – a defect of the ordinary white tile which renders perfect cleansing impossible’.
Sadly, there appear to be no photos of this room from this time and in 1919 the bath was boarded over and the room divided by partitions to create new treatment rooms as part of the new medical baths scheme.
Twenty-five years later the Health & Holiday Resort Committee debated whether a new immersive brine bath would be worth adding to the existing treatments; the suggestion was made that the boards could be lifted to make an inspection of the family bath with a view to converting it for this purpose. The bath still exists today under the floors and much of the red and buff tiling still exists, albeit covered or painted over.
Ventilation
Prior to the refurbishment ventilation and heating in both swimming baths was by warm air entering at floor level and the air – and steam from the heated water – escaping via vents in the ceiling. Now, things were reversed. Hydraulic fans had been installed which drew air into the building where it was heated by being passed over hot pipes in the roof before being driven through apertures in the ceilings of both bath rooms (the apertures in the ceiling of the main swimming bath can be seen in the photos above). The air then exited through vents at floor level. The Looker-On declared that this method served to ‘to diffuse the air and heat, prevent draughts, and keep down the vapour which usually gives to such places a climate unpleasantly reminiscent of Scotch mist’.
TO READ ABOUT SWIMMING FROM 1945-NOW CLICK HERE