Forfar, The Vennel, Forfar Swimming Pool And Boundary Wall

This is a group value public bath building, constructed between 1909 and 1910, designed by Hippolyte J Blanc. It was extended to the southeast by A Waterston in 1911, with later additions to the northwest, southwest, and southeast. The building is situated on a steeply sloping site and is of irregular plan, displaying a Jacobean Renaissance style. It is constructed of squared and snecked rubble masonry with red sandstone ashlar dressings, and some brickwork is also present. Stone mullions are used throughout, and shouldered gables are a prominent feature.

The northeast (The Vennel) elevation features a three-bay gable, centered, with a semicircular pediment, the apex broken by a pinnacle. The elevation has a deep base course with narrow, now blind, openings in each bay. A cill course sits above the clerestory, with a string course running to the pediment. Central bays are divided by square pilasters topped by a pinnacle, and the pediment has diamond-aligned and corbelled pilasters. A round-arched window with a keystone is centrally positioned, flanked by bipartite windows. To the right of the gable are a narrow ground floor opening and a bipartite window above, followed by a bay with a pair of small bipartite openings on the ground floor and a quadripartite window above.

The southeast (entrance) elevation has an advanced gable to the right, with a gabled entrance porch added in 1911. A rectangular brick addition is to the left of the gable; later additions include a rendered lean-to and a flat-roofed brick extension to the right. The entrance features a pair of panelled timber doors with a semicircular, geometrical fanlight set within a roll-moulded and keystoned surround. An octagonal lantern tops the 1911 addition, with hung slates and a roof finial.

The southwest elevation is single-storey with a rectangular plan and a piended roof extending to the rear of the baths. It comprises tooled, squared, and snecked masonry with irregular openings, and includes a door to the right return.

The northwest elevation has a gable to the right, with a door and a narrow opening to the left, and a bipartite window above. A two-storey, rectangular-plan section with a piended roof projects to the right; the ground floor is cement rendered, with brickwork above. Irregular fenestration is present, and squared and stugged masonry is used on the left return, with a wide segmental arched opening at ground level containing doors.

The building primarily has timber windows with multi-pane glazing. The roof is predominantly pitched slate with terracotta ridge tiles, while the outshots have piended slate roofs.

The interior, as viewed in 2012, contains a rectangular pool with three integral spittoons along one side. It features painted metal, arched roof trusses. The entrance foyer is of irregular plan and has later entrance doors to an inner porch with a multi-pane rectangular fanlight. Moulded timber door architraves, a dentiled and moulded cornice, and an oval cupola are also present. Later interior additions were largely remodelled in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

A stepped and curved boundary wall is adjoined to the left gable of the northeast elevation, with stairs leading to the raised entrance at the southeast. A decorative cast-iron gate, bearing the cut-out inscription "FPB," is located adjacent to the entrance.