The Turkish Bath, Its Design and ConstructionAllsop, Robert Owen
Science
The Turkish Bath, Its Design and Construction
Allsop, Robert Owen
Baths, Turkish
One of the most elaborate Turkish baths erected, in modern times, is
that on the Praterstern, at Vienna, which cost, in round numbers,
125,000_l._ The building comprises ladies' and gentlemen's Turkish and
Russian baths, and includes a residential block for those taking a
course of baths. The whole of the arrangements are on a most sumptuous
scale. The cooling room of the gentlemen's baths measures no less than
35.3 metres long, and 10.5 broad. There are both warm and cold plunge
baths, besides a fine circular _piscina_, in a circular domed chamber.
Similar provisions are made for the ladies on a smaller scale. Though
plain and somewhat heavy in external design, the building internally is
resplendent with tiles, marble, and ornamental woodwork.
CHAPTER IV.
A DETAILED CONSIDERATION OF FEATURES PECULIAR TO THE BATH.
It is scarcely necessary to say anything more as to the subsidiary
apartments of a Turkish bath. Such adjuncts as the entrance hall and
vestibule, the pay office, refreshment department, laundry and
drying-rooms, hairdressing and attendants' rooms, and other minor
provisions, are obviously simple matters, requiring little or no
detailed explanation. Sufficient has already been said about them to
enable the architect, assisted by the drawings given, to design them
with convenience and economy. The features peculiar to the bath are
those requiring careful consideration. It is upon the design of the hot
rooms, the cooling rooms, and the washing rooms that the success or
non-success of a new bathing establishment depends, and too much study
cannot be given to these apartments.
THE SUDORIFIC CHAMBERS.
These are now generally required in a suite of three--"first, second,
and third hot." The first is the tepidarium, and must be by far the
largest of the three, since in it the greater number of bathers will
assemble at one time. The last must be the hottest room--the
laconicum--and need only be a very small one, as but few bathers use
it, and that, generally, for a very short time. The second hot room
should be about midway, in size and temperature, between the first and
the third. Of a given area allotted to the hot rooms, from one-half to
two-thirds may be devoted to the tepidarium, and from one-third to
one-half to the super-heated rooms, always remembering that it is well
to err on the side of providing a large and roomy tepidarium. Of the
space allowed for the smaller rooms, one-quarter to one-third may be
given to the hottest, and the remaining space to the second hot-room,
or calidarium.
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