Hornsey Road Baths And Attached Railings

This is a public bath house and wash house, dated 1892, designed by A. Hessell Tiltman and built by Macfarlane Bros. It is located in Islington. The building is constructed of red brick in English bond, with dressings of cut and moulded brick and stone, and a roof of Welsh slate. The main block is three and five storeys high over a basement, with a nine-window range. It is executed in a Queen Anne style. A tall, gabled wing dominates the right side, featuring an entrance arcade; a three-storey wing rises to the left, partly beneath a parapet and partly beneath a gable; a wash house wing extends to the rear of the three-storey wing. The entrance features a four-centred carriage arch flanked by round-arched pedestrian entrances, all providing access to a yard behind. These entrances are ornamented with pilasters, archivolts, keystones, and intricately cut heraldic beasts carrying coats of arms. An oculus with scrolled consoles sits above the foundation stone. A cornice over a frieze, likely of stone, is inscribed with the words “PUBLIC BATHS AND WASH HOUSES.” The frieze incorporates the base of a three-storey canted oriel with flat-arched windows, topped with architraves and pediments on the first floor, set within a round arch beneath the gable. Other windows in this wing are flat-arched with moulded brick architraves, with those on the first floor under floating pediments. A cornice above the second floor bears the words "PARISH OF ST MARY ISLINGTON.” Brick sill bands run horizontally across the facade; a keyed oculus and cornice mark the third floor. A clock tower rises to the right of the gable, featuring brick pilasters, a dentil cornice, a scrolled pediment, a lead ogee roof, and an arcaded lantern. The three-storey wing has flat-arched windows throughout; those on the ground floor are framed by moulded brick architraves, with scrolled pediments clasping enlarged double keystones in gauged brick. First-floor windows have eared brick architraves, while the second-floor windows lack architraves, although the three northernmost have panelled pilasters between. A modillion cornice runs along the top, above a gable that displays a coat of arms within an elaborate surround of cut and moulded brick; a parapet runs along the remainder of the gable. The rear elevation mirrors the detailing, with flat-arched windows in moulded brick architraves and keyed oculi to the tower bay. The wash house wing, to the north of the yard, has a round-arched entrance with a Gibbs surround under an entablature and pediment lettered 'WASH HOUSE,' along with flat-arched windows with moulded brick architraves and double ogee profile aprons. Decorative area railings with ornamental panels surround the property, complemented by iron gates with spearhead railings and scrollwork. An additional wing was constructed to the east around 1965. A remarkable neon Diving Lady, one of the few surviving neon signs originally placed on swimming pools and lidos in London in the 1930s, is located on the south flank elevation.