Bath House at Sir Moses Montefiore Synagogue

A freestanding ritual bath house, or Mikveh, built in 1916 to serve Grimsby's Jewish congregation of the Sir Moses Montefiore Synagogue.

MATERIALS: the principal, east elevation is of red brick with ashlar and blue brick dressings and a rendered plinth. The sides and rear are of yellow brick and the roof is of Welsh slate (covered over in 2024).

PLAN: the building is situated to the west of the Sir Moses Montefiore Synagogue and is rectangular on plan with a projecting central entrance porch.

EXTERIOR: the three-bay building is a single storey in height and has a pitched roof. The principal elevation faces east and is raised above ground level on a deep, tapered plinth capped with chamfered blue brick and a flush ashlar band. The projecting central porch is accessed by a set of five stone steps. The entrance door has a three-pane fan light (boarded over) set within a double-chamfered, round-arch brick reveal. Above the doorway is a brick parapet with a central stone pediment featuring a relief inscription that reads ‘Mikveh’ in Hebrew lettering. The south bay features a square casement window with glazing bars (boarded over) and a stone lintel and sill. The north bay is blank. There are small, ornate terracotta ventilation grilles to both outer bays. The pitched roof sits above a two-course brick eaves and has coped gables with brick kneelers. The east pitch features a large rooflight and the west pitch has a brick stack with a four-course corbelled brick and ashlar cap. The south elevation features a small, first-floor window with a stone sill and lintel, a blocked door opening with a stone lintel and a low opening within a rounded brick arch. The north and west elevations are blank, with the north elevation built into the line of the boundary wall.

INTERIOR: the entrance leads into a large room with a tiled floor and glazed tiled walls. The space is lit with a central light-well composed of four, nine-light panes to the ceiling, some of which are missing. Gaps in the tiling of the floor and walls indicate the former position of partitions. A square, sunken immersion pool is situated in the north-east corner of the room, currently infilled with rubble. To the south of the main room, a doorway leads into a small front office with a picture rail. Adjacent is an arched doorway with a fan light leading to a tiled vestibule containing a further door with a top light leading to a toilet.