Manningham Baths

MANNINGHAM BATHS

Swimming baths opened in 1903, designed by Bradford City architect F E P Edwards. The building is constructed in coursed dressed stone with ashlar dressings and slate roofs in diminishing courses. A ridge chimney stack sits behind the front gable. Windows to the front are all small paned; those to the sides are single paned tilting sashes. Original cast rainwater goods are stamped 1903.

The building consists of a central swimming pool behind a front entrance and reception area, surrounded on three sides by changing cubicles. Cubicles for baths survive to the left of the pool area; these have been replaced by a sauna to the right. The original boiler room is towards the rear on the right, with a later tower beyond holding tanks for the showers. A more recent boiler room is attached to the side, forward of the original boiler room, with a hexagonal chimney.

The front elevation is symmetrical, with a central two-storey gable flanked by a single storey wing to each side. The centre of the gable breaks forward and contains a canted bay to the ground floor with stone mullions and small paned wooden framed sash windows, and a small balcony with a parapet above. Three lights appear on the first floor above the balcony, and a circular window in the apex of the gable features a drip mould and projecting keystone with elaborate stone swags to each side. The gable is semi-circular with a step to each side. An entrance to each side of the bay is inscribed "MEN" to the left and "WOMEN" to the right, over half-glazed double doors. The roof sweeps down to either side behind a raised parapet, with a single light to each side. The wings are lower and stepped back from the central gable, each with two lights facing to the front. The rear of the front gable has a raised semi-circular gable matching that at the front, and a ridge chimney stack.

The main roof of the pool continues at a slightly lower height than the front gable and has continuous skylights down each side. The left return onto Drummond Road has a gable at each end with raised coping: that at the front has three lights and that at the rear has two small paired lights. The central section has five bays each with three windows and a parapet. The right return is similar but with an extended pitch-roofed boiler house towards the rear end and a tall gabled wing at the back, housing the water tanks for the showers. A more recent extension lies forward of the boiler house, in stone, flat roofed and windowless, with a tall hexagonal chimney rising from it. The rear gable end has a circular window above and four windows below, the gable matching those to the sides. The water tank tower has two windows at ground floor level.

The two entrance doors open into small half-tiled halls with terazzo floor on either side of a central reception room which has hatches to each side. To the rear of this room is a corridor, originally part of the room, with a blocked fireplace on its rear wall. Half-glazed doors to each side lead into the main pool which is tiled with white tiles to above door height and buff yellow above with string courses of maroon tile. Two open shower cubicles back onto the reception area, with a foundation plaque between them. A narrow terrazzo walkway runs round the entire pool, and changing cubicles surround it on three sides. These have tiled side walls and a cast iron column to the front, with a low door and a rail above from which a curtain is draped. The pool is tiled in white with lanes marked in green, and has steps at each end and three ceramic spitoons along each side. The roof is supported by slender steel trusses. A doorway at each side at the front leads to a corridor running alongside the pool. To the left this retains tiled cubicles with baths and showers, and toilets at the rear end. To the right these have been replaced by a sauna area. To the rear at the right is the entrance to the original boiler room and tank tower.

The tank tower has a steel ladder leading up to the water tanks. The boiler room contains the original boiler and coal store below ground level, and also access to the below-pool area. The ceiling is supported on wooden king post trusses. Windows to the side are now blocked by the new boiler room.

The right hand front wing houses the staff room. Stairs from the reception area lead to a small suite of offices on the upper floor.

The baths were designed by Bradford City Architect F E P Edwards and opened in 1903 on part of the site of a Corporation Depot. The building remains in use as a swimming baths. The foundation plaque records that it was laid by the Chairman of the Baths & Team Labour Committee Councillor Herbert Morris Trotter on 5 June 1903. The members of the committee are named, and the architect is mentioned at the bottom. Edwards was responsible for a number of prominent buildings in Bradford, including the Town Hall, and went on to become Sheffield City Architect.