Guildford Crescent Baths

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The Guildford Crescent Baths, originally known as the Cardiff Baths and, after 1873, as the Corporation Baths, was a public swimming pool building in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. [1] It was demolished in 1985. [2]

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Background

Victorian Turkish Baths in Guildford Crescent, Cardiff, with swimming pools behind Cardiff Victorian Turkish Baths and the dock feeder.jpg
Victorian Turkish Baths in Guildford Crescent, Cardiff, with swimming pools behind

The swimming baths in Guildford Crescent, Cardiff, were originally opened by the Cardiff Baths Company Ltd in April 1862. They included a first class and a second class swimming pools, a Turkish bath with two hot rooms heated by dry air maintained at 110°F and 140°F, [3] a Mikveh and a gymnasium. [1] The building was designed by T. Waring and cost £3,700 to construct. With a capacity of one million gallons of water (4.5 million litres), the facilities were located next to the Bute Docks Feeder canal. [4] The canal was culverted in 1949 and now flows under Churchill Way. [5]

Cardiff Borough Council acquired the baths in 1873. [6] Originally open-air, work began to add a roof to the baths in 1884 and took eight years to complete. The newly roofed and refurbished facilities were officially re-opened by in 1896 by Lady Windsor. [7]

After the Empire Pool was opened in 1958, the Guildford Crescent Baths were given over exclusively for use by children. [7]

The baths finally closed on 31 March 1984, despite a campaign to keep them open, which had gathered more than 10,000 signatures. [7] The building was demolished in 1985 [2] and, in the 2000s, an Ibis hotel was built on the site.

References

  1. 1 2 "Corporation Baths, Guildford Crescent, Cardiff (415047)". Coflein. RCAHMW . Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  2. 1 2 Dan O'Neill (13 March 2007). "Memories of all the happy days at Guildford Crescent Baars". South Wales Echo . Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  3. ↑ 'A visit to the Turkish baths'. Star of Gwent. (31 May 1862) p.8
  4. ↑ Simon Graham Allen (September 1998), The Provision of Public Baths and Wash Houses in Cardiff and Their Effect on Public Health and Hygiene 1846-1901 (Masters dissertation), School of Graduate and Continuing Education, Faculty of Education and Sport, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, p. 62 – via Bathsandwashhouses.co.uk
  5. ↑ Lewis, Ffion (12 June 2021). "Cardiff's canal quarter - how it looked in the past, what's there now and the exciting future". Wales Online .
  6. ↑ B. W. Row, F. G. Squire (1974), Cardiff 1889-1974 - The Story of the County Borough, The Corporation of Cardiff, City Hall, Cardiff, p. 21
  7. 1 2 3 Thomas Deacon (28 January 2019). "How campaigners first fought to save Cardiff's Guildford Crescent in the 1980s". Wales Online . Retrieved 26 May 2019.

51°28′47″N3°10′14″W / 51.4798°N 3.1706°W / 51.4798; -3.1706

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