Hotwells Public Baths

The Hotwells Public Baths are a former public bathhouse and gymnasium, now a dance theatre, designed in 1881 and opened in 1889 by Josiah Thomas. The building is constructed of red Cattybrook brick with buff terracotta dressings, gable stacks, and a slate roof.

The building comprises a central swimming pool flanked by lateral blocks and a front cross passage. It is designed in a Northern Renaissance Revival style. The main façade is single-storied and 12 bays wide, with a 3-storey, 5-bay pool gable behind. The façade is divided into three sections by brick pilasters topped with terracotta domed octagonal caps, with further octagonal terracotta pilasters incorporating smaller domed tops between the sections. The central section features a terracotta panel reading "HOTWELLS PUBLIC BATHS" beneath a raised panel displaying the City arms, and a pediment with foliate decoration. A tripartite central window is flanked by doorways inscribed "WOMENS WARM BATHS" and "MENS SWIMMING AND WARM BATHS" respectively, with outer paired windows, all featuring shouldered architraves and segmental pediments. Three bays on the left-hand side are blind, while the four bays to the right contain paired windows. Each side block has an end gable with a stack featuring a terracotta panelled and gableted top.

The large pool gable features outer brick pilasters topped with domed caps, and a raised central section with a stepped pedimented gable. There are two lower strings, a frieze, and a dentil cornice between the pilasters. The middle section is divided by terracotta strips, with five shell-head niches above the cornice, a cornice above them, and a terracotta pediment with foliate decoration, bearing the date of opening, topped with a ball finial. The sides of the pool have six deep semicircular arches supported by a corbel table. A full-length ridge lantern is present. A decapitated square chimney with chamfered sides and terracotta bands is located on the rear right-hand side.

The interior features a covered pool with a semicircular steel truss roof supported by steel corbels, side blocks, and a boiler house to the left. Cast-iron columns with octagonal bases and moulded capitals are also present. The baths were converted into a dance centre around 1980 and represent a very fine example of their type.

Historically, the water for the pool was sourced from Jacob's Well on Brandon Hill.