Portobello Baths, 57 Promenade, Portobello, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Description

Robert Morham, City Architect (assisted by Depute, Mr Williamson), 1898, with later alterations (see Notes). 2-storey with attic and raised basement, Scottish Renaissance-Queen Anne style swimming baths with 2 ponds set behind front block. Red bull-faced squared and snecked sandstone, polished red sandstone dressings; chamfered arrises. Principal elevation with tall base course, incorporating basement windows, wooden balcony at 1st floor flanking entrance gable. cast-iron bowed window guard at bay to centre, coped parapet to tower at bay to extreme right.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: near-symmetrical, 12 bays, grouped 4-3-5. Raised and advanced central entrance gable with 8 steps rising to ground floor; timber mullioned semicircular window at ground to centre, recessed upper storeys above, cast-iron bowed balcony at 1st floor in front of transomed and mullioned tripartite window with carved stone armorial plaque above; window to attic breaking eaves in segmental pediment; centre flanked by 2-leaf wooden doors with glazed upper section set within roll-moulded basket-arched doorpieces with steep-angled, carved pediments flanked by obelisk finials (left- women; right- men); cross-mullioned 4-light windows at 1st floor above each entrance and bipartite window at attic in Dutch gableheads. Flanking bays symmetrical except for canted tower breaking eaves with crenellated parapet to outer right; timber balcony at 1st floor, late 20th century ramp to bays to right of centre.

W (BELLFIELD STREET) ELEVATION: 12-bay, grouped 2-2-7-1-1. Buttresses dividing central 7 bays, with pyramidal caps (after Stirling/Falkland Palaces); bipartite windows between moulded string course and coped parapet with slit openings to each bay. 2-bay gable to left of centre with skewputts, ground floor with tripartite window to centre flanked by single windows, bipartite windows at 1st floor and louvered oculus to gablehead. 2 bays of tower to outer left set back and angled; projection at basement-ground with door to left; windows at ground (3, regularly disposed) and 1st floor (2, widely spaced). Bay to right of centre slightly advanced with panelled door and 5-paned rectangular fanlight to left set within moulded doorpiece with segmental pediment, small window to left of door, bipartite windows (possibly lighting stairs) to 2 storeys above; parapet. Tripartite windows (cross-mullioned to ground) to 3-storey gabled bay to outer right.

Variety of window types, including 12-pane and 8-pane timber sash and case, 6-pane timber hinged windows to ground on entrance elevation. Complex roof pattern of varying heights, with grey slated roof to N, different slate type used beneath line of dormers, polygonal roof above tower with finial. Glazed ridge to each pool. Red polished ashlar stacks with upper section of cream polished sandstone including gablehead coped stacks to entrance elevation; with curvilinear shouldering to those to centre; coped wallhead stacks to S elevation. Original cast-iron downpipes and rainwaterheads with trefoil raised decoration and dentilled cornice.

STACK: to SE; red brick, tapering, polygonal with cream brick to top and banding in upper stage.

INTERIOR: originally segregated into men's and women's areas which were almost mirrored facilities including 2 entrances, 2 halls, 2 staircases, 2 ponds- female (50' x 25'); male (75' x 35'). Internal 2-leaf, semi-glazed doors to women's entrance, in glazed vestibule screen; later door to men's entrance; timber central ticket booth, large wood-clad columns to halls; paired and mirrored half turn staircase with wrought-iron decorative banisters and tiled walls (black, white, cream, blue and brown), Legrande and Sutcliffe turnstile moved to right of stairs. Main swimming pool (formerly male pond) with tiered gallery to 3 sides and timber balustrade, cast-iron columns with ornamental capitals at ground and 1st floor; painted roof truss and diagonally arranged timber boarding to gallery soffit and roof; original tiles lining pool. Small pool (formerly women's pond) with non-original tiling and decoration. Non-original changing area to section and Aerotone (shown on plans dating from 1946) between ponds (see Notes). Turkish baths (Tepidarium, Sudatorium, Russian bath, Laconicum, Callidarium. Tepidarium lit by oval skylight) to rear; double height cold bath plunge pool with timber balustrade to galleried upper storey and original Gothic-detailed changing stalls at both levels, timber banister with obelisk newel posts to staircase; Moorish/Saracenic brick arch between Tepidarium and Sudatorium (above plunge bath), and to each wall of Sudatorium incorporating water fountain to left of arch; domed ceiling to Sudatorium, with circular rooflight at apex and 4 stars and circular openings grouped around (originally filed with coloured leaded glazing). Non-original tiling in situ in Laconicum and Callidarium.

BOUNDARY WALLS, POST BOX AND LAMP STANDARDS: bull-faced red sandstone boundary wall to N (entrance) elevation with chamfered ashlar copings, stepping down to NW corner and incorporating single Royal Mail letter box with keystoned curvilinear pediment. Ashlar walls flanking main entrance staircase, with moulded coping and terminating square pillars with truncated cast-iron lamp standards.

Statement of Interest

Portobello Swim Centre is one of Scotland's finest examples of a Victorian leisure building and a rare example of a large-scale municipal baths still in use. Prominently located on the promenade the building is an important surviving part of Scotland's social history as it was constructed not only for the local population but specifically as a tourist facility. The exterior is largely unaltered and is finely detailed with carved stonework and timber balconies. The building has been adapted to meet contemporary standards but many fine original details and fixtures to the interior survive, particularly to the entrance vestibule and the principal swimming pool (formerly the men's' pond) and although altered the building has one of the few remaining Turkish baths in Scotland. The building was constructed at a time when the Corporation was investing in public baths complexes, including Infirmary Street, Dalry and Glenogle (see separate listings), but Portobello Public Baths was to be the city¿s flagship facility and when it opened in 1901 they were described as the 'most, complete and up-to-date set of baths in the United Kingdom' (1902).

The construction of public baths was a stipulation of the Act to amalgamate the burgh of Portobello with the City and Royal Burgh of Edinburgh in 1896. Plans survive (in the Planners' archive) for a single pond pool design; a modest development, using salt water only. However Edinburgh Corporation "took a larger and more liberal view of their obligations" (1902). As well as demonstrating the Corporation¿s awareness and care for the community, the baths were not intended to be for residents of Portobello alone, but to be a flagship facility serving the whole city, as well as holiday visitors. This status is reflected in the scale of the building, its high quality detailing and specification of the facilities. Members of the Corporation visited the south-west and east coast of England to view the latest in bath design and appliances. Fuller plans were submitted, according to D Campbell's research, in January 1898.

The baths are unusual in that they were built with a specific requirement to satisfy the needs of the summer residents and tourists, (D Campbell, 1993). The building contained men¿s¿ and ladies¿ ponds, with second class single baths in the dividing section between them (now changing rooms), a Turkish baths suite, and a gymnasium, reading room, smoking area and refreshment room to the upper floors. By 1936, the facilities included a sun-ray lamp, and mixed bathing on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In the 1940s an aeratone Water bath was added. Under pressure, water bubbled through the holes in the base and submerged the seated swimmer to the shoulders, producing an effect on the body rather like the action of a washing machine. The popularity of the baths is demonstrated by the various alterations which have been made to the building in 1900, 1926, 1929, 1933, 1949, 1952, 1958, 1963, 1964, 1980 1985 and 1995-8.

Sea-bathing arrived in Portobello circa 1790 and the town developed into a fashionable seaside resort. Hot and cold, salt-water baths were erected at a cost of £5000 in 1806/7 at the end of Bath Street, A promenade was built along the shore in the 1860s and a 381m-long pier constructed in 1870/1 (demolished 1917 following storm damage). In 1936 an open air swimming pool was added to the seaside attraction, closing in 1979. Portobello swim centre is therefore an important surviving example of the area¿s seaside attractions.

Portobello Swim Centre was designed by Robert Morham. Born and trained in Edinburgh, after briefly working in London to widen his experience, from 1873 to 1908 Morham worked as City Architect and Superintendent of Works for Edinburgh Corporation. In this capacity Morham designed and altered numerous public buildings including four swimming baths. In his later years Morham relied heavily on assistants, James Anderson Williamson becoming Deputy Architect in 1898 and succeeding him in 1908.

Swimming clubs and bath houses were established in Scotland from the 1850s following the enactment of the 1846 Act to Encourage the Establishment of Public Baths and Wash-houses, which was established to improve general public health with access for all classes of citizen. With the rapid expansion of urban population, often living and working in unsanitary conditions, bath and wash houses were seen as essential public services. The Act, which affected the entirety of Britain, encouraged local authorities to open up these facilities in areas of dense population. While men and women did not mix at these facilities, women would have had their own separate entrance, however they would have to attend at certain times when the male pools were not in use. It would not be until the 1870s when separate ladies pools were being considered in bath and wash house design. These bath and wash houses soon started to cater for recreational swimming rather than washing and became a hugely popular social past time during the 20th century.

External Links

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