Jubilee Pool ( Cornish: ) is an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

lido Lido may refer to: Geography Africa * Lido, a district in the city of Fez, Morocco Asia * Lido, an area in Chaoyang District, Beijing * Lido, a cinema theater in Siam Square shopping area in Bangkok * Lido City, a resort in West Java owned by MN ...

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. It is

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, being recognised as the finest surviving example of its type with the exception of

Saltdean Lido Saltdean Lido at Saltdean Park Road, Saltdean, in the Brighton and Hove district, in the ceremonial county of East Sussex, England, is an Art Deco lido designed by architect R.W.H. Jones. Originally listed at Grade II by English Heritage for its ...

. With a capacity of 5 million litres and 600 swimmers and measuring 300 feet long and 160 feet wide, it is the UK's largest seawater pool.

History

Construction and opening

The plan to build a pool in Penzance became something of a political issue, with local councillors seeing it as a choice between the pool or improving the town's water supply. One town councillor predicted the project would be "the biggest white elephant Penzance has ever had". The lido was designed between 1931 and 1934 to be built on

Battery Rocks Battery Rocks are a rocky headland to the south of the harbour of Penzance, Cornwall, UK. The rocks take their name from a gun battery that was situated there from 1740, following a petition by Penzance Borough council for protection from Fren ...

, which was already a popular bathing spot, to designs by Captain Frank Latham, the Borough Engineer of Penzance. Its design has been described as "

", "

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

-styled" and " cubist-inspired", and is reportedly influenced by the shape of a

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...

in flight. It was opened on the 31 May 1935, as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations for

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

Use and decline

The pool was damaged by the

Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash is ...

which hit the UK on 13 March 1962, with the lido's far wall being breached. Visitor numbers declined after the 1970s, when the popularity of lidos waned, and the pool fell into disrepair. It was closed in 1992, but was restored and made a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

after the formation of the Jubilee Pool Association (later called the Friends of Jubilee Pool).

Revival

The pool had a revival in 1994 with a 'Grand Re-opening' and Penzance-born actress

Jan Harvey Jan Harvey (born 1 June 1947) is a British actress. She is known for her regular television roles in ''Howards' Way'' (1985–1990), '' Bugs'' (1997–1999), and ''Family Affairs'' (2003–2005). Career Harvey is best known as Jan Howard in the ...

launching the lido's new season. The lido suffered "serious structural damage" during the winter storms in February 2014, with changing rooms and terraces being demolished and the floor of the pool being destroyed. It was repaired at a cost of £2.94m which was raised by the local community as well as with grants from the

Power to Change Trust Power to Change is a charitable trust operating in England, created in 2015 with a £150 million endowment from the Big Lottery Fund. The trust is solely concerned with supporting community businesses in England over a ten-year period, after whi ...

and the Coastal Communities Fund. Jubilee Pool re-opened in May 2016. In both 2016 and 2017, the lido had around 40,000 visitors. Jubilee Pool became the UK's only lido heated with

geothermal energy Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...

in 2019 after a 410m deep geothermal well was drilled into the rock below the pool. In 2020, Parkdean Resorts named Jubilee Pool the UK's best lido. As of 2021, Jubilee Pool is owned by 1400 local shareholders and is run as a social enterprise.

References

{{reflist Lidos Silver Jubilee of George V Buildings and structures in Penzance Buildings and structures completed in 1935 Sports venues completed in 1935 Art Deco architecture in England Sports venues in Cornwall Swimming venues in England Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall Grade II listed sports and recreation buildings Listed sports venues in England

History

Construction and opening

Use and decline

Revival

See also

References