Victoria Public Baths, Junction Place, Leith, Edinburgh

The Victoria Public Baths, located at Junction Place in Leith, Edinburgh, were designed by George Simpson and built between 1896 and 1899. This building features a two-storey principal pool block with a single-storey entrance block to the right, showcasing Free Renaissance architectural details. The front elevation is made of red sandstone, with squared and snecked rubble and polished dressings, while the rear and sides are constructed from red and mottled brick. Notable features include a base course, chamfered reveals, sloping cills, corniced windows, and a tall parapet on the pool block.

The front elevation has a tripartite pool block on the left, with plain bands of quadripartite windows at the ground floor for each pair. The centre bay is slightly advanced, featuring a bracketed and pedimented cornice, with a tall round-arched window on the first floor that breaks the parapet in a pedimented gable, flanked by fluted pilasters. The outer bays also have quadripartite windows. An original foliate cast-iron lamp bracket is fixed to the left. The single-storey entrance block to the right has four bays, with a recessed porch of paired arches in the bay to the left of centre, topped by a semi-circular open scrolled pediment that breaks the eaves, displaying a large shield and the motto of Leith. There are bipartite windows to the right of centre and on the outer left, with an additional window on the outer right. All windows are currently boarded up. The entrance block has a green slate roof with crested red ridge tiles and a brick stack, while the pool block features grey slate lean-to roofs on either side, a raised ridge with a narrow strip window, and ridge glazing made of corrugated acrylic sheeting. The eaves gutter is moulded.

Inside, as of 1992, the vestibule includes an oval lantern and a commemorative panel naming the architect, along with some original cornices. The pool area retains largely original fittings, including curved Baroque wrought- and cast-iron balcony rails and Art Nouveau wrought-iron tendrils, alternating between cast-iron supports and foliate bosses. The balcony is cantilevered over cast-iron columns between stalls on three sides, with timber boarded partitions and later half doors. The roof features light steel trusses with arcaded catwalks, while the pool has been re-tiled and re-faced.