The Tepid Baths is a public indoor pool complex in Auckland, New Zealand. The baths opened in 1914 on a site that had previously been occupied by a small drydock [1] and were very well-received by the public, with the new baths attracting 30,000 visitors in the first two months after opening. [2] 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.
The Tepid Baths was originally leased from the Auckland Harbour Board, 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. [3]
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 minister baptised a hundred new faithful in the pools. [4] 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. [5]
In 1974, the salt water pools (previously fed from the Waitematā Harbour) were transformed into fresh water pools, primarily for maintenance reasons. [2] The facility was refurbished in 1986 and again after the YMCA received the management lease in 1997 from Auckland City Council. Renovations included new sauna and steam rooms, and a gym on the upper level (YMCA club members only). [3] Nowadays, a large part of the Tepid Baths' customers are people working in the Auckland CBD who swim here before or after work. [6]
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. [7] 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. [8] While the restoration costs rose later to approximately $16 million, [9] 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. [10]
Oriental Bay is a bay and suburb of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Noted for being both a popular beach and a luxurious centre of affluence in the city, it is located close to the Central Business District on Wellington Harbour.
The Public Library and Baths on Moseley Road, Balsall Heath, form one of many pairings of baths and libraries in Birmingham, England.
Warrender Swim Centre – traditionally known as Warrender Baths – is a swimming pool and fitness complex that opened in 1887 in Marchmont, Edinburgh.
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.
Moana Pool is the largest swimming pool in the southern half of New Zealand's South Island. It is located at the corner of Littlebourne Road and Upper Stuart Street close to Otago Boys' High School, on the slopes of Roslyn, overlooking the centre of the city of Dunedin. The pool complex can be seen from much of the city, and commands extensive views over central and coastal Dunedin.
Andrew "Boy" Charlton Pool is an eight-lane outdoor heated salt-water 50-metre (55 yd) swimming pool on the shore of Woolloomooloo Bay in The Domain in Sydney, Australia, near the Royal Botanic Gardens. The pool is typically closed for four months in the colder period of the year - May through August.
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.
Hilsea Lido is a freshwater lido at Hilsea, Portsmouth, England. The lido was closed for a number of years but reopened undergoing refurbishment under the control of Hilsea Lido Pool for the People.
Dulwich Public Baths is a swimming pool and gym in Dulwich, South London. It opened in 1892, and is London's oldest public baths to have remained in continuous operation. The baths are listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England.
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.
Wylie's Baths is a heritage-listed tidal swimming pool located near Coogee Beach, in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The baths are noted for holding the first Australian Swimming Championships and for being one of the first swimming baths for mixed gender swimming in Australia. The Baths were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 14 November 2003 and are also classified by the National Trust of Australia.
The golden age of lidos in the United Kingdom was in the 1930s, when outdoor swimming became popular, and 169 were built across the UK as recreational facilities by local councils. Many lidos closed when foreign holidays became less expensive, but those that remain have a dedicated following. The name Lido originated from the Lido di Venezia.
Govanhill Baths is a Category B listed Edwardian public bathhouse at 99 Calder Street, Govanhill, Glasgow, Scotland, designed by the architect A.B. McDonald and opened between 1912 and 1917. The building itself is currently closed for refurbishment works until 2023. Govanhill Baths Community Trust operates from an office at 126 Calder Street, across the road from the baths building.
Spanien Public Baths, colloquially known simply as Spanien, is a public bath house and a listed building in Aarhus, Denmark. The bath house was completed in 1931 and was listed on the Danish national registry of protected buildings and places by the Danish Heritage Agency on 15 February 1989 as a fine example of the Nordic funkis style. The building was thoroughly renovated in 2010–12.
Portobello Swim Centre is a multi-facility leisure venue in Portobello, Edinburgh. Built by Edinburgh City Architect Robert Morham in 1898, it comprises swimming pools, a gym and fitness studio, and Edinburgh's only authentic and publicly available turkish bath, one of three remaining in Scotland. The salt water baths were completed in 1901.
Hobson Street is the major street in Auckland, New Zealand. It lies on the western side of Queen Street. It is a commercial and high-rise residential street, and provides access to the Auckland Northern Motorway going south, and the Northwest Motorway going west. For most of its length it is one-way. One block to the west is Nelson Street, which is one-way in the other direction and provides access to the central city for traffic exiting from the motorways. One block to the east is Albert Street, part of Mayoral Drive, and Vincent Street. The area encompassed by these streets is called Hobson Ridge by Statistics New Zealand.
For almost a century in the United States, men and boys swam nude in indoor swimming pools, primarily for education or athletics, not recreation. Male nude swimming had been customary in natural bodies of water since the 18th century. When the tradition of skinny-dipping in secluded spots had become more visible with urbanization, indoor pools were built in the 1880s as a means of separating swimmers from public view. For the first decades of the 20th century, male nude swimming was associated with a trope of the "old swimming hole" as representing childhood innocence and adult masculinity. In their own classes, nudity was rare for girls based upon an assumption of modesty, but might include young children. Pre-pubescent boys might be nude in mixed-gender settings, including the presence of female staff, public competitions, and open houses for families.
The Parnell Baths are a historic swimming pool in Parnell, Auckland. The pools feature the largest saltwater swimming pool in New Zealand, originally filling with seawater from the Waitematā Harbour. In the 1950s, the pool complex was redeveloped into the Lido style popular in the United Kingdom, by Hungarian architect Tibor Donner.
Media related to Tepid Baths, Auckland at Wikimedia Commons