Old Royal Baths

The Old Royal Baths are a hot thermal bathhouse built between 1775 and 1778, designed by John Wood the Younger, and restored in 1925-27 by Alfred Taylor. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar with a lead roof. Originally a square plan with inset splayed corners and open gateways on each side of the main west portico, the building has been modified with later additions to the right and left, enclosing approach paths. To the left, facing the Colonnades, the outer wall features a slight ogee curve. The ground floor contains a series of dressing rooms surrounding an open central octagonal bath.

The single-story building has small attic spaces and twelve-pane sash windows in plain reveals. The west front features a tetrastyle unfluted Doric portico with a pediment, flanked by two sash windows on each side, and above a panelled door. Each end has an inset splay with a sash. A former gateway or doorway to the left has been filled with a sixteen-pane sash within a moulded architrave, fronted by freestanding Doric columns. This connects to a curved flank wall, which terminates at a pair of panelled deep piers with a straight lintel. The building is attached to number 8 Bath Street. To the right, the return wall has eight small high-level lights, a door within cheeks, and a hood on consoles to pilasters, extending toward Beau Street, with a blank panel and former door in a moulded architrave. The return wall has eight small lights, a door in the cheeks, and a hood on consoles. A full entablature runs along the main building, topped with a lead coping and a stone balustrade in three panels to each front, with dies. The entablature continues to the left range, also featuring a long sunk panel in the curved wall.

The interior, which was originally symmetrical, was considerably altered in the 1920s and has not been recently inspected. John Wood described the original layout, as referenced in Ison, although the actual construction deviated from his plan. Formerly known as The Hot Bath, this is the only civic building in the city by the younger Wood, as opposed to the Assembly Rooms which were a private venture. He was paid 100 guineas for his work, as recorded in Council Minutes of 24th June 1778. The baths are currently undergoing major restoration work by Donald Insall Associates, architects, as part of a scheme with Nicholas Grimshaw, to reinstate thermal bathing.