The Clifton Spa Pump Room

The Clifton Spa Pump Room, built in 1894, was designed by Philip Monro for Sir George Newnes, who was promoting the spa scheme. The building is constructed of bath stone ashlar with a flat bitumen roof and is in a classical style. It is a single-story structure with a three-bay Doric pilastrade on either side of the entrance bay, the original entrance portico having been removed. The entrance features caryatids supporting scroll brackets, which carry a broken pediment attached to a rusticated frame with an arched keyed head. The key of the arch incorporates a scroll bearing the initials “GN” (Sir George Newnes). Each bay has a two-light Italianate arched window with a roundel in the arch over the arched lights, decorated spandrels, and scrolled keystones; all windows and the door were boarded up during an inspection in September 1999. A Doric entablature and projecting cornice with acroterial detailing are also present. The rear elevation, visible at a higher level, consists of a panelled wall and a flat roof.

The interior is richly decorated in a late Victorian theatrical style, reminiscent of Frank Matcham. It comprises a large, single room approached by a marble staircase from the hotel. The room features grey marble Corinthian columns (now mostly painted) on panelled wooden plinths, some of which are damaged. These columns extend forward from the walls, forming a pattern of seven by three bays, with the centre bays wider on both short and long walls. The south wall has three tall windows on either side of the entrance door. The east wall features two panels flanked by two pedimented doorcases, while the north wall incorporates three arched niches with female head keystones on either side of an apsed centrepiece designed to house the spa. The west wall has the original entrance to the Clifton Rocks Railway in the corner. The ceiling is adorned with elaborate plaster cornices and decorations on the beams, as well as plaster ceiling roses and three vents intended for gasoliers. All the flooring was removed at the time of inspection. A cinema projection room is located at the northwest end, alongside the entrance to the Clifton Rocks Railway, and a staircase is situated at the southeast end.

The spa, which was fed by a deep bore hole extracting hot water from 70 meters below the Hotwells area, operated until 1922. Subsequently, the room was used as a cinema until 1928 and as a ballroom until the 1960s.