#turkishbaths — Public Fediverse posts

We're the oldest members-run swimming club in Europe. Our beloved #Victorian building in the Woodlands area of #Glasgow opened in 1871. We love #swimming, #architecture.#history,#TurkishBaths, #art, #music and #community. Find us at: https://arlingtonbaths.co.uk

The historically important Turkish Baths in Carlisle originally opened in 1909 and Carlisle City Council voted to close the doors in October 2022.
#Carlisle #TurkishBaths
https://northwestbylines.co.uk/lifestyle/culture-language-and-religion/progress-in-saving-carlisles-victorian-and-turkish-baths/

#OnThisDay—5 Feb 1894—#Southampton Corporation opened #TurkishBaths to complete their Western Shore Road Baths. Money was borrowed for "vapour baths" as it was thought—wrongly—that local authorities were precluded from building Turkish baths (which had not existed when the Baths & Wash-Houses Acts were passed). Women's charge soon lowered.
Costing £1,100, the baths comprised a dressing room, 3 hot rooms, shampooing Craven Dunnillroom, plunge & cooling-room. Closed mid-1930s.
#histodons #bathing

#OnThisDay—5 Feb 1895— City of London Alderman Treloar opened the new #TurkishBaths built for Nevill's on a site by Bishopsgate Churchyard which had housed baths of various kinds since c.1817. (Much illustrated article at http://www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/AtoZEstab/London/NewBroad/NewBroadEng.htm).

Designed by architect G Harold Elphick, who also designed some of the special tiles made by Craven Dunnill. Built in "Oriental" style with the underground baths entered through an upper kiosk.

Baths closed 1954 but Listed building remains. Amazing!

#OnThisDay—2 Feb 1878—the formal opening of the Victoria Baths Club at Butterbiggins Road took place on completion of its #TurkishBaths—reported as being 'the only specimen we have in #Glasgow of the Moorish style of architecture'. The design competition was won by local architect T L Watson. A unique study compared the stoves at the Victoria & Arlington Baths Clubs.(https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2fAUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA493&hl=ar&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false). Closed 'for the duration of the war' in 1942, the club never re-opened.
#histodons #bathing #heating

#OnThisDay—2 Feb 1861—Charles Bartholomew, a farmhand's son & Secretary of David Urquhart's #Bristol Foreign Affairs Committee, opened his College Green #TurkishBaths, replacing a small experimental one at Mill La, Bedminster. When he died in 1889, he owned a chain of 8 Turkish baths spread from Manchester to Eastbourne. Bristol's was open till at least mid-1940s. Except for the façade, the building—originally the Great Western Hotel built for #Brunel—was demolished in 1982.
#histodons #bathing

@nigelpstanley Sambourne was a regular user of #Turkishbaths, which he often visited, as did several other members of the Punch Table. #histodons

#OnThisDay—27 Jan 1879—the original Kent Street Baths in #Birmingham were augmented by #TurkishBaths. These were built at a cost of £1,255.10.0 by converting the underused washhouses. The plunge pool, with 14 cubicles, adjoining hot rooms at 145 & 195 deg.F, a shampooing room with marble slab & various showers, was below the cooling-room with its 8 rest cubicles.
In 1930 the baths were demolished & new ones on the same site, also incl Turkish baths, opened 3 years later.
#histodons #bathing

#OnThisDay—25 Jan 1897—the #Doncaster Oriental & #TurkishBaths Co Ltd opened baths at their Oriental Buildings, Station Rd (the building with the cupola on the right in first image).
The building also contained 6 shops & 17 offices.
The cooling room has divans for 9, hot rooms at 145, 170, & 240 degr.F, shampooing room, plunge & showers.
The Glyn Hotel, in the advert, became the Central Hotel. In 1930, a Miss Roberts ran the baths as Robert's Turkish Baths until they closed c.1932.
#histodons

#OnThisDay—20 January 1973—the Burns Leisure Centre was opened in the High Street, Stanley (Co. Durham) by the local council. It included one of the last Victorian-style #TurkishBaths to be built. However, they survived only 24 years, closing on 4 September 1997. Little is known about them (or, alas, remembered by me!). Anyone else remember using them? #histodons

#OnThisDay—17 January 1911—the Chester Turkish Baths Co Ltd opened #TurkishBaths for Gentlemen in Bridge Street, & announced that those for Ladies would open early in March. In 1889 the local Council had intended that their new public baths should include Turkish baths, but this didn't happen. Local architect Wm T Lockwood designed them. They comprised a 10 cubicle cooling-room, 3 hot rms, shampooing rm, showers, & a Russian vapour bath. Closing date unknown. No image found—Any known? #histodons

@aleebrahim #histodons That little pebble, just on the right of the 19th century layer, is my specialism, Victorian #TurkishBaths.

#OnThisDay—1 January 1891—Mr Francis James (of the Albany Road #TurkishBaths in Wolverhampton) decided to start his New Year by opening another one in Priory Street, #Coventry. He did so by converting an unfinished Weslyan chapel into a well equipped facility with 1st & 2nd Class cooling-rooms, 3 hot rooms ranging from 130 to 240 degrees. Additionally, there were Russian and electric baths. The baths were demolished c.1920). More information in an article at http://www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/AtoZEstab/England/Coventry/CoventryEng.htm
#histodons

#OnThisDay—29 December 1874—The #Otago Turkish Bath Co Ltd opened the first #TurkishBaths to be built in #NewZealand. It was originally managed by one of the Burton family which ran the long-established Turkish baths in London's Euston Rd. There were two hot rooms, a cooling-room, a shampooing room, a steam bath, sitz baths and a large (36 ft x 24 ft) cold water swimming pool. In 1890 the baths were sold to William Asher, and he leased them to Herman Döring who ran them till they closed in 1908.

My avatar is taken from an advertisement in 'White's Directory of Hampshire, 1878' for the Southampton #TurkishBaths in Regent Street. They were opened by John Rose in 1870 and were later bought by the Southampton Turkish Baths Co Ltd, who re-sold them in 1880 to a new company with the same name. They closed in 1886. #histodons

The 3 pix on my profile header (l to r): The #TurkishBaths opened, 1858, by the Leeds Foreign Affairs Committee, shown at unknown later date (Leeds Library and Information Services Leodis ID 20031017_79638309);
Poster advertising the Leeds Oriental Baths in 1858,
as actually built (Leeds Library and Information Services);
William Potter's 2nd Turkish baths, Clifford Street, Manchester, unearthed 2013 (courtesy Oxford Archaeology). Extra image: Potter's baths as advertised in 1859. #histodons

#OnThisDay—27 December 1879—J M Jenkins opened #Salisbury #TurkishBaths on the site of the Plume of Feathers Inn in Queen Street. The inn was 'a house of call for Jewish pedlars, who travelled round the country with their boxes of jewellery'.
On 1 February 1881 fire destroyed part of ther baths, though the much older wooden #staircase was saved (and is now Grade II* Listed. The baths were closed in 1912 and demolished in 1974. (Illustrated article at http://www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/AtoZEstab/England/Salisbury/SalisburyEng.htm)

#histodons

#OnThisDay—26 December 1910—London's Wimbledon Theatre, built for actor and manager J B Mulholland, opened with its Christmas pantomime 'Jack and Jill'. Uniquely, the theatre had its own Victorian #TurkishBaths (Illustrated article at http://www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/AtoZEstab/London/Wimbl/1WimblEng.htm)
The absence of a female loo suggests that its use was intended only for male performers and staff. Parts of the baths, now re-fitted as a night club, can still be seen.

#histodons # Wimbledon #theatres

#OnThisDay—24 Dec 1870—opened the #TurkishBaths, designed by Edward Welby Pugin, architect son of the more famous architect Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, as part of the Saline Spa at the Granville Hotel, St Lawrence-on-Sea, #Ramsgate. The hotel and baths were requisitioned by the Govt during 1914-18 war for a hospital for soldiers from #Canada. They were still open in 1938, but it's not known if they remained open till the hotel closed in 1946. The baths were demolished in 1980.

#histodons

#OnThisDay—22 December 1887—David Taylor opened his #TurkishBaths at 15 Sarsfield Street (formerly Brunswick Street) in #Limerick, #Ireland. During the 1916 #EasterRising Sarsfield Bridge was barricaded and troops billeted in the baths. After a few years of opening part time only, the baths closed in 1927 or early 1928 and the building was purchased by Spillane's Tobacco Factory, which already occupied the premises next door. There's an Illustrated page on these baths at http://www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/AtoZEstab/Ireland/LimSars/LimSarsEng.htm

#MondayTurkishBathsPic #TurkishBaths #histodons #bathing A life-size enamel wall-mounted advertisement listing all the Savoy Turkish baths open in London at the beginning of the 1930s (c.1730x600mm).

@phistorians If only! I'm in my late 80s and the nearest Irish-Roman (ie #TurkishBaths) are miles away.

@DazzlingDamo #histodons #hygiene Not even lux apts at Netley. The main building–the world's longest building when completed–was entirely demolished in 1966, except for the chapel & former YMCA building, which still survive. The extensive outbuildings, which once occupied a vast acreage of land to the rear of the main building, finally succumbed in 1978. (Wikipedia)
Margate had several Victorian #TurkishBaths, including an art deco-ish one in Cliftonville Avenue—its repurposed building remains.

@DazzlingDamo #histodons I didn't know this hospital had Victorian #TurkishBaths (which are the only baths I know anything about) so I'll raise you with the Royal Victoria Hospital, the large military hospital in Netley, near Southampton, which installed Turkish baths in 1864. Jessica, the wife of Maj-Gen C G Evans Gordon, the Governor of Netley, was the daughter of Thomas Gibson Bowles, a frequentor of the Jermyn Street Hammam, and later a director of the company owning it.

@tmichellemoore #histodons Between 1908 and 1897 there were #TurkishBaths upstairs. Anyone know of any images of them?

#OnThisDay—15 December 1873—the Droitwich Saline & Turkish Baths opened as part of the refurbished 1836 Royal Brine Baths. The #TurkishBaths comprised a hot room, tepid room, cooling-room, and dressing room. The floors were tesselated, and the walls and ceiling covered in Parian cement (gypsum plaster with included borax)—except for the lavatory which had marble lined walls. A swimming pool was added later. New brine baths were built in the 1930s, but without Turkish baths.
#histodons

#OnThisDay—15 December 1873—the Droitwich Saline & Turkish Baths opened as part of the refurbished 1836 Royal Brine Baths. The #TurkishBaths comprised a hot room, tepid room, cooling-room, and dressing room. The floors were tesselated, and the walls and ceiling covered in Parian cement (gypsum plaster with included borax)—except for the lavatory which had marble lined walls. A swimming pool was added later. New brine baths were built in the 1930s, but without Turkish baths.
#histodons

#OnThisDay—11 December 1869—the first #TurkishBaths were opened in Storie Street, #Paisley, #Scotland. It was built by subscription at a cost of £2,100 with a swimming pond & dressing boxes, hot & cold and sitz baths, and #TurkishBaths. Unusually, the heating for the baths was supplied by the nearby Messrs Coats dye-works. From around 1876 the baths were owned by the Corporation until their new Turkish baths (Image below) replaced them in 1896.
#histodons

#OnThisDay—11 Dec 1876—William Rickwood opened #TurkishBaths at 71 Wellington Street, #Woolwich, SE London, midway between Woolwich Barracks & the Arsenal. Behind two shops, on two floors, there was a manager's flat, hot & cold baths, 3 hot rooms, cold plunge, cooling-room, & a shampooing room with marble benches. Not much else is known about the baths except that it was still open, now owned by Arthur Flaunty, its third or fourth proprietor, in 1897, despite a fire two years earlier. #histodons

A Moorish Church in Leith: the thread about the many lives of the Hope Street Turkish Baths

There’s a building just off the foot of Leith Walk that looks much like any other mid-to-late 19th century Scottish Baronial Revival tenement, but just a little bit less in the Scottish or Gothic tradition and with just a few more unusual architectural flourishes than usual. It’s a modern church now behind the façade – but that’s not what it was built as. Do you want to hazard a guess as to the original purpose?

If like many people you were picking up a distinct Ottoman/ Turkish/ Moorish/ Islamic influence, then you’re on the right track. No it was not a mosque…

12 Casselbank Street was built at what was 12 Hope Street in 1885 (renamed in the 1960s to avoid confusion with a street in Edinburgh of the same name) as a Turkish Baths by George Beattie and Son. The proprietors were a John William Hodgson and a William Nixon. Casselbank refered to Walker Cassels, a merchant in Leith from whose estate it was feud. It was laid out as Hope Street which was probably a family connection. In reality it should have been named Casselsbank, as his name wasn’t Cassel.

Turkish Baths were copied from the hammam of the Islamic world; places of public bathing, particularly steam baths. Guests would first “bathe” in hot, dry air (not steam) to cause them to perspire. They would then move to a hotter room before a plunge into a cold pool and then washing in cold water. After washing and a massage from an assistant, they retired to a cooler room to relax. They were a popular pseudo-medical treatment, as well as a recreational activity.

The baths were built as a single storey, raised to 3 storeys a few years later in 1894, at which time Mr Nixon is noted as the “late proprietor” and newspaper adverts for the establishment dry up. They may have replaced an older establishment on Hope Street (but not at number 12, and not one I can find on the valuation rolls). The pediment was re-used and the onion-domes added either side. I think it’s a really clever mix of the Turkish influence with traditional Scottish masonry construction and the Baronial revival styling and that was so popular at the time.

I don’t have any pictures of the interior, but the relatively contemporary Stafford Street Turkish Baths in Edinburgh included this engraving of their interior in their Post Office directory advertising.

And the washing room of the Moray Lodge Turkish Baths in Camden Hill, London:

In the 1920s, it was converted to another fashionable leisure activity, a cinema, nicknamed the plaster screen because of the projection screen fashioned from that material. It’s official name was the Central Kinema, a nod to it being within shouting distance of Leith Central station. The shareholders include J. W. Hodgson, the Turkish Baths proprietor, and he was one of the directors. and it opened almost exactly 99 years ago (when this was written on November 22nd 2019). On December 2nd 1920, when it opened, the programe was from 6PM continuous to 10:30PM, or from 3PM on Saturdays. The feature attraction was a A Man’s Fight Against Tremendous Odds starring Dustin Farnum, supported by a Gaumont serial Barabas and a “first class musical programme”. Capacity was 500 and tickets were 9d, 1/- and 1/6.

There are lots of lovely photos of the interior here on the Scottish Cinemas archive, although all this ornate plasterwork is from its days as a cinema, not a bath house. You have to wonder if there is Victorian bathhouse tiling lurking behind it… The plaster screen is a rare survivor; they were usually demolished and replaced by a fabric one to install sound equipment behind, but the Central Kinema closed before it was converted for “Talkies”.

By 1934 the Central Kinema Co. Ltd. was in liquidation and the premises were being advertised for sale for an upset price of £2,200. It was soon taken over by the Edinburgh Pentecostal Church; the ready made amphitheatre suiting its needs. It was in appropriate company, next door to the Leith Trinity Free Church and along the street from the Leith Spurgeon Memorial Baptist Church. More recently, the Elim Pentecostal Church was been replaced by the Destiny Church; the Turkish Baths having spend the best part of its working life not as a bath house or even a cinema, but as a place of worship.

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