The Tepid Baths is a public indoor pool complex in

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

. The baths opened in 1914 on a site that had previously been occupied by a small

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

and were very well-received by the public, with the new baths attracting 30,000 visitors in the first two months after opening.Tepid Baths history
(from the 'Pools and recreation centres' webpage of the

Auckland City Council Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...

. Accessed 27 November 2008.) In 2010 the baths closed for a major refurbishment, re-opening in mid-2012 after a two year re-build. The main pool is 1.1m in the shallowest end, and 2.1m in the deepest end.

History

The Tepid Baths was originally leased from the

Auckland Harbour Board The Auckland Harbour Board was a public body that operated the ports of both Auckland and Onehunga from 1871 to 1988 and was dissolved in 1989. Its successor organisation is Ports of Auckland, which assumed the possessions and responsibilities of ...

, and contain two separate pools, a "male" (25 m, 6 lanes) and "female" (18 m, 4 lane). The "male" pool was the largest in New Zealand at the time. The pools were heated with hot water from the nearby tramways power plant, the system being considered an engineering masterpiece of its time.Welcome to Tepid Baths
(from the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

Auckland website) The pools were not only extensively used for both recreational and competitive swimming, but also for some other activities – in one event in the early 1930s, a

pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

minister baptised a hundred new faithful in the pools. Two local athletes were employed as custodians of the baths, swimmer Malcolm Champion (who frequently swam across the harbour to and from his North Shore home) and runner

Billy Savidan John William Savidan (23 May 1902 – 8 November 1991), nicknamed "Billy", "Bill" or "Jack" and born in Auckland, was a New Zealand long distance runner from 1926. At the New Zealand at the 1930 British Empire Games, 1930 British Empire G ...

. In 1974, the salt water pools (previously fed from the

Waitematā Harbour Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and easter ...

) were transformed into fresh water pools, primarily for maintenance reasons. The facility was refurbished in 1986 and again after the

received the management lease in 1997 from

. Renovations included new sauna and steam rooms, and a gym on the upper level (YMCA club members only). Nowadays, a large part of the Tepid Baths' customers are people working in the Auckland CBD who swim here before or after work.

In November 2009 it was announced that the Tepid Baths would close for a period of up to four years for a $12 million restoration project to address structural issues exacerbated by saltwater effects. It was hoped the pool would reopen in time for its 100th anniversary in 2014. The baths closed in April 2010, with the Y-Fitness Centre having already moved to a new purpose-built facility at the ANZ Centre on Albert Street. While the restoration costs rose later to approximately $16 million, the pools were closed only until mid-2012 when they reopened. In late 2012, the restored building won the New Zealand Project Management Institute's (PMINZ) Public Sector Project of the Year award.

References

External links

Tepid Baths
held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections. {{coord, -36.843997, 174.763003, type:landmark_region:NZ, display=title Buildings and structures in Auckland Tourist attractions in Auckland Swimming venues in New Zealand Buildings and structures completed in 1914 1914 establishments in New Zealand Sports venues completed in 1914 1910s architecture in New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in the Auckland Region Auckland CBD