The swimming baths of LondonDudgeon, R. E. (Robert Ellis)
History
The swimming baths of London
Dudgeon, R. E. (Robert Ellis)
Swimming; Swimming pools -- England -- London
_St. Margaret’s and St. John’s Swimming Baths_, Great Smith
Street, Westminster.—The first class bath is 12 yards by 10. It
is lined throughout, and for 3 feet above the water, with white
glazed bricks. Depth from 3 ft. to 5 ft. 6 in. Boxes 16, open,
with mirrors, in two tiers at the shallow end. A footway 6 feet
broad in front of boxes, about 3 feet above the water, to which
two flights of wooden steps lead down. A narrow gangway, about
6 feet above the water, leads to a door opening on to the second
class bath, which is very similar to this, only 3 feet longer,
and with double the number of boxes arranged similarly at either
end. The walls, whitewashed, rise from the water on three sides.
They support a lofty double sloped ceiling of painted wood, with
glass let in along each slope. The water is clear, and the bath
is tolerably well lighted and ventilated, but as it is deficient
in everything ornamental, it has rather a mean appearance.
_St. Pancras Swimming Baths_, King Street, Camden Town.—The
first class bath is 19 yards by 8. The corners of the bath
are rounded. The sides of white porcelain tiles, the top row
ornamented with blue dolphins. The bottom is of glazed black and
white bricks arranged in a pattern. Depth from 3 ft. 4 in. to
5 ft. 5 in. A spring-board at deep end. The boxes, 25 in number,
with mirrors and half doors, run down one side and along deep
end. At the shallow end, and in front of the boxes, a footway of
stone flags. At the other side runs a screen about 10 feet high,
separating it from the second class bath, which is identical with
it in all respects save the mirrors and dolphins. The two baths
are covered, to the extent of one half, by a very lofty glass
dome. The other half of the bath is overhung by a not very lofty
ceiling of plaster and ironwork, with sundry round holes in it,
displaying intricate conglomerations of iron pipes. The water is
beautifully clear, and the lighting and ventilation good. It is
one of the most recent of the parochial baths, and does great
credit to the much-reviled St. Pancras Board of Guardians.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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