Victoria Baths

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Victoria Baths
VictoriaBaths.jpg
Victoria Baths, Manchester
Victoria Baths is located in Greater Manchester
Victoria Baths
Location within Greater Manchester
General information
Town or city Manchester
Country England
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Completed 1906 (1906)
Cost £59,144[1]
Client Manchester Corporation
Designations Grade II* listed

Victoria Baths is a Grade II* listed building,[2] situated in the Chorlton-upon-Medlock area of Manchester, in northwest England. The Baths opened to the public in 1906 and cost £59,144 to build. Manchester City Council closed the baths in 1993 and the building was left derelict. A multimillion-pound restoration project began in 2007. As of 2009, the building is on English Heritage's Heritage at Risk Register.[3]

History

Stalls surrounding the main pool in 2011
Stained glass window in the Turkish Baths

The baths were designed by the City Surveyor, T. de Courcy Meade, and his assistant, Arthur Davies. The work was supervised by Henry Price, the newly appointed city architect.[citation needed] The baths were opened in September 1906 by the Lord Mayor of Manchester who described the building as a "water palace".[4] For 86 years the Baths provided both essential and leisure facilities. Private baths and a laundry were housed there along with three swimming pools and a Turkish bath. The main swimming pool was floored over in the winter months to hold dances. In 1952 the Victoria Baths installed the first public Aeratone (jacuzzi) in the country.

In the design and construction of the Baths, a great deal of money was expended, Manchester having at that time one of the world's wealthiest municipal coffers. The façade has multi-coloured brickwork and terracotta decoration, the main interior public spaces are clad in glazed tiles from floor to ceiling and most of the many windows have decorative stained glass.

The Baths were closed by Manchester City Council in 1993.[4] The Friends of Victoria Baths was formed and began to investigate the possibility of running the Victoria Baths independently.

Various fund-raising attempts failed to bring about a restoration of the Baths, although work to prevent further deterioration of the building started in 1998.

Restoration

The interior in 2010

In September 2003, the Baths won the first series of the BBC's Restoration programme. The building was chosen by a public phone-vote from a short-list of ten buildings in danger of dereliction in the UK. It was awarded £3.4 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the money raised through the phone-voting process.[5] The Prince of Wales visited the baths a month later to help celebrate the win.[6]

It was intended that the money would be spent on re-opening the Turkish bath by around 2006, with other parts following later at a cost of around £15–20m.[7] However, the redevelopment plans were dealt a blow one year later when quantity surveyors delivered a much larger estimate of £6.3m to restore the Turkish baths. The Heritage Lottery Fund requested further details about the full redevelopment before they would hand over any money for the first phase.[8] Final planning approval to begin a restoration process was not received until September 2005.[citation needed]

In September 2006, as part of a number of events to mark the centenary of the building's opening, the gala pool was filled for the first time in 13 years.[9][10]

The first phase of restoration work consisting of structural work and repairs began on Monday 19 March 2007,[11] and was completed in September 2008.[12] In 2011 the Baths were used as a filming location,[13] a concert venue,[14] and an exhibition centre.[15]

See also

References

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Further reading

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External links

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