Bristol North Baths

BRISTOL

ST5975 GLOUCESTER ROAD, Bishopston 901-1/32/406 (West side) Bristol North Baths

II

Swimming pool. c1912. Red brick with limestone dressings and a slate hipped roof. Open plan. Edwardian Baroque style. 2 storeys; 3-window range. Central portico with octagonal shafts to domed pinnacles flanking an elliptical-arched opening with square responds and a moulded archivolt. Set within it are 2 pairs of half-glazed doors with Art Nouveau handles. BRISTOL NORTH BATHS in relief above, and a balustraded balcony with a pedimented panel carrying the city's motto. Ashlar central section, a round-arched window set back behind a similar arch on coupled Doric responds, and pilasters either side to a cornice and balustrade, and a central bracketed gable with moulded strings. Mullion and transom windows with cyma mouldings and steel glazing bars, linked by string and sill courses, and scrolled, pedimented panels above the ground floor ones. Octagonal towers broken forward at the corners capped by leaded cupolas with round-arched louvred lights. At the rear is a tall round chimney with moulded ashlar string and cap. INTERIOR: entrance hall with 4 three-quarter Doric columns, pink granite shafts and grey granite pedestals, linked by elliptical arches, and an imperial stair; panelled dado. The pool has a gallery on 3 sides on cast-iron shafts and open scrolled brackets, salt-glazed tiles, and a glazed, steel truss roof bearing on pilasters. A complete public baths with considerable architectural attention to both the front and inside. Original facilities included that of flooring the pool and using the baths as a cinema. (Loxton S L: Loxton's Bristol, 2nd ed: Bristol: 1992-).

Listing NGR: ST5900375271