The Public Baths are on the north side of Union Street at its junction with Bath Street in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England. The structure is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

as a designated Grade II

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 ...

History

The public baths were built for

Chester City Council Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

between 1898 and 1901 and were designed by the local architect John Douglas on whose land they were constructed. It was an unusual commission for Douglas, as most of his previous designs had been for churches and houses. Designing the baths involved "technical complexity and specialist engineering work". During the design process Douglas advised that because of possible leakage through the

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

linings of the baths, it should be replaced by a

bituminous Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

lining at an additional cost of £150 (); the council agreed to this. In the 1970s the city council were building

Northgate Arena Northgate or North Gate may refer to: Historical structures * Northgate, Chester, part of the city wall, in Cheshire, England * St Michael at the North Gate, a church in Oxford, England Places * Northgate, Gauteng, South Africa Australia * Nort ...

, a leisure complex which included a swimming pool, and they stated that they would not be able to afford to run both this and the old baths. However the City of Chester Swimming Club were of the opinion that the new baths would not be suitable for competitive swimming or for

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

. The Chester Swimming Association was formed and they took over the management of the baths on 14 April 1977. They made improvements to the building, including the installation of gas central heating and a new water filtration system, the addition of a kitchen, cafeteria and gymnasium, and strengthening of the structure. The slipper bath was replaced by a clubroom and bar.

Architecture

The structure is partly in two storeys and partly in one storey. The frontage on Union Street is in two storeys. The lower storey is in red

Ruabon brick Ruabon ( cy, Rhiwabon ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from ''Rhiw Fabon'', ''rhiw'' being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and ''Fabon'' being a mutation from St Mabon, the original church ...

with stone dressings, the upper storey is

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

, and the decorated chimney stacks are brick. Behind the frontage are the swimming baths and the

boiler house A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

is at the rear. The frontage is symmetrical; the small wing at the left originally contained the caretaker's flat and a slipper bath. The ground floor contains two arched entrances, each with double doors and windows. Between the entrances is a pair of

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinatio ...

-headed windows, over which is a stone panel containing the city's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

. The upper storey is

jettied Jettying (jetty, jutty, from Old French ''getee, jette'') is a building technique used in medieval timber-frame buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below. This has the advantage of increasing the availa ...

and has three

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s. Beneath the middle gable is a five-light

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

canted Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to: Language * Cant (language), a secret language * Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers * Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers * Shelta or the Cant, a lan ...

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found pro ...

, and under the outer arches are four-light mullioned

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...

s. Internally there are two swimming baths. The larger, the Atlantic, long, is deep enough for diving, and is surrounded by galleries. The other bath, the Pacific, is long. Douglas' biographer,

Edward Hubbard Edward Horton Hubbard (2 July 1937 – 31 May 1989) was an English architectural historian who worked with Nikolaus Pevsner in compiling volumes of the ''Buildings of England''. He also wrote the definitive biography of John Douglas, and played ...

, commenting on the utilitarian nature of the building, stated that the domestic architectural style of its frontage "bears little relation in plan or character to what lies behind".

References

{{Reflist, 30em Buildings and structures in Chester Grade II listed buildings in Chester John Douglas buildings Cultural infrastructure completed in 1901 Government buildings completed in 1901

History

Architecture

See also

References