Bristol North Baths

Bristol North Baths is a swimming pool built around 1912, designed in the Edwardian Baroque style. The structure is made of red brick with limestone dressings and features a slate hipped roof. It has two storeys and a three-window range. The central portico is notable for its octagonal shafts that support domed pinnacles, flanking an elliptical-arched opening with square responds and a moulded archivolt. Within this opening are two pairs of half-glazed doors adorned with Art Nouveau handles. Above the doors, "BRISTOL NORTH BATHS" is displayed in relief, and there is a balustraded balcony featuring a pedimented panel that carries the city's motto.

The central section of the building is made of ashlar and includes a round-arched window set back behind a similar arch supported by coupled Doric responds, with pilasters on either side leading to a cornice and balustrade. A central bracketed gable with moulded strings adds to the design. The windows are mullion and transom style, featuring cyma mouldings and steel glazing bars, connected by string and sill courses, with scrolled, pedimented panels above the ground floor windows. The corners of the building are accentuated by octagonal towers capped with leaded cupolas that have round-arched louvred lights. At the rear, there is a tall round chimney with a moulded ashlar string and cap.

Inside, the entrance hall features four three-quarter Doric columns with pink granite shafts and grey granite pedestals, linked by elliptical arches, leading to an imperial stair and a panelled dado. The pool area has a gallery on three sides supported by cast-iron shafts and open scrolled brackets, with salt-glazed tiles and a glazed, steel truss roof resting on pilasters. This building serves as a complete public baths and has received considerable architectural attention both externally and internally. Originally, the facility included features that allowed the pool to be floored over for use as a cinema.