Victoria Baths With Attached Forecourt Walls

Victoria Baths with attached forecourt walls is a public baths built in 1906. The building is constructed of red brick with buff terracotta dressings, featuring steeply-pitched slate roofs with glass skylights. It occupies a large rectangular plan, comprising an entrance range parallel to the street and three parallel bath halls to the rear. The architectural style is eclectic, combining Jacobean and Baroque elements.

The main range is two-and-a-half storeys high, complemented by single-storey wings and two-storey bath halls, all with basements. The symmetrical entrance block has a five-bay facade with a 3:2:1:2:3 window arrangement, the central and end bays projecting forward and topped with steep gables. Flanking these are single-storey, three-window side wings, all featuring pronounced banding. Tourelles rise from the gabled outer bays, adorned with swan-neck pediments and banded chimneys. A large clock turret sits centrally atop the roof. A canted bay with mullion-and-transom windows occupies the ground floor centre, topped with a parapet featuring a moulded terracotta panel. Ground-floor openings are predominantly round-headed, with keyed terracotta surrounds, including doorways with Ionic shafts in the end bays and a doorway in the right side wing, marked "FEMALES" with a terracotta panel above. The first floor showcases cross-windows and a six-light mullion-and-transom window centrally, each light accented with keystones and low swan-neck pediments. The attic has Venetian-style three-light windows in the outer gables, a single round-headed window centrally, and segmental-pedimented dormers between. The clock turret is atop a mansard roof with a balustraded parapet.

The forecourt is enclosed by a wall punctuated by three gateways with wrought-iron gates, set between square piers with pedestals for former urns. The left return wall emulates the main style but in a simpler form, with five gables. The right-hand return wall features a blank arcade.

The interior includes a principal entrance hall with a two-bay screen and a staircase of dark green glazed terracotta in a Baroque style. The pools are galleried on three sides; No. 1 Pool has Art Nouveau railings, while Nos. 1 and 3 Pools retain original changing cubicles beneath the galleries. No. 2 Pool has been altered to serve as a sports hall. Features include blank arcaded side walls and Venetian windows in the gable walls. Turkish Baths are located at the east end of the front range.