The Guildford Crescent Baths, originally known as the Corporation Baths, was a public swimming pool building in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It was demolished in 1985.
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, [1] a Mikveh and a gymnasium. [2] 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. [3] The canal was culverted in 1949 and now flows under Churchill Way. [4]
Cardiff Borough Council acquired the baths in 1873. [5] 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. [6]
After the Empire Pool was opened in 1958, the Guildford Crescent Baths were given over exclusively for use by children. [6]
The baths finally closed on 31 March 1984, despite a campaign to keep them open, which had gathered more than 10,000 signatures. [6] The building was demolished in 1985 [7] and, in the 2000s, an Ibis hotel was built on the site.
Cwmbach is a village and community near Aberdare, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Cwmbach means 'Little Valley' in Welsh. Cwmbach has a population of 5,117.
Glossop Road Baths is a building in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which originally housed a swimming pool and Victorian Turkish baths.
The Birmingham Baths Committee was an organisation responsible for the provision and maintenance of public swimming and bathing facilities. Birmingham City Council funded, constructed and ran bathing facilities throughout the city. The movement to develop baths and wash houses in Britain had its impetus with the rapid urbanisation of the Industrial Revolution, which was felt acutely in Birmingham, one of England's powerhouses.
The City Baths, located at 420 Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, opened in 1904 as public baths, with swimming pools and bathing facilities. Extensively renovated in the early 1980s, it is now considered one of Melbourne's most architecturally and historically significant buildings.
Forest Hill Pools is a leisure centre in Forest Hill, London. After being closed in 2006, it was rebuilt including two pools and a health and fitness suite and reopened in September 2012. It is located close to Forest Hill railway station, Forest Hill Library and Sydenham School.
The Royal Pump Rooms is a cultural centre on the Parade in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. It was the most famous of several spa baths opened in Leamington between the late-18th and mid-19th centuries. People would travel from throughout the country, and indeed Europe, to benefit from treatments using the town's healing waters. When 'taking the waters' became less fashionable after the mid-19th century the Pump Rooms became Leamington's only surviving spa facility, later also being extended to include the town's public swimming pool. After a major redevelopment in 1997-99 the building now houses Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum, a public library, a Tourist Information Centre, cafe and assembly rooms. It is a Grade II listed building.
The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure centre in Bethnal Green, London. The building opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200 and is now an international boxing venue. The main hall also hosts concerts and other live events and other facilities also include a local gymnasium and a swimming pool.
The timeline of Cardiff history shows the significant events in the history of Cardiff which transformed it from a small Roman fort into the modern capital city of Wales.
The Thames Lido, formerly known as the King's Meadow swimming pool, is an open-air swimming pool or lido located in King's Meadow in Reading, Berkshire. It was first opened to the public in 1903 as the Ladies Swimming Bath and is believed to be the oldest surviving outdoor municipal pool of a similar early Edwardian era. In August 2004, as a result of a campaign, the building was awarded Grade II listed building status. It re-opened in 2017 after three years of restoration.
Cleveland Pools located in Hampton Row, Bath, Somerset, England is a semi-circular lido built to designs by John Pinch the Elder in 1815. It is believed to be the oldest public outdoor swimming pool in the UK. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Oasis Sports Centre is a leisure centre in Holborn, London, operated by Better on behalf of the London Borough of Camden.
Camberwell Public Baths opened in 1892 and has been in continuous operation as publicly funded community baths and more recently as a public leisure centre.
The Wales Empire Pool, known locally as the Empire Pool, was an international standard swimming pool building, located in Cardiff, Wales from 1958 until it was demolished in 1998. It was a centrepiece for the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
The Buxton Baths using natural thermal spring water are in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. The baths date back to Roman times and were the basis for developing Buxton as a Georgian and Victorian spa town. The present buildings of the Thermal Baths and the Natural Mineral Baths were opened in the 1850s. They are positioned either side of the Buxton Crescent at the foot of The Slopes in the town's Central Conservation Area. They are both Grade II listed buildings designed by Henry Currey, architect for the 7th Duke of Devonshire.
The Victorian Turkish bath is a type of bath in which the bather sweats freely in hot dry air, is then washed, often massaged, and has a cold wash or shower. It can also mean, especially when used in the plural, an establishment where such a bath is available.
The Ripon Spa Baths are a grade II listed building in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. It was built between 1904–05 as a spa but failed to compete with the larger facilities at nearby Harrogate. In 1936 a new pool was constructed to the rear and the facility converted to a swimming baths. The building is noted for its ornate terracotta-clad frontage and received listed building protection in 1980. Harrogate Borough Council proposed selling the building for housing development in 2008 on the grounds that it required significant structural repair. The sale was cancelled but in 2021 the council made a new proposal to sell the structure.
Waterworld, formerly the Wrexham Swimming Baths, is a leisure centre in Wrexham, North Wales. Known for its hyperbolic paraboloid roof, the only roof of its type in Wales, the centre houses a set of swimming pools and a gym. The centre was opened in 1967, with a major refurbishment occurring in the 1990s, being re-opened by Elizabeth II in March 1998 under its current name.
The Bute Docks Feeder is a canal in Cardiff, Wales, constructed to provide a water source for the Cardiff docks.