Hidden City: Moseley Road Baths

Yesterday I went to the Friends of Moseley Road Baths open day. You may be asking what this has to do with hidden city when the baths are this whacking great Edwardian edifice for all to see on the Moseley Road, but the point of the open day was that the great unwashed (at least unwashed since the washing baths closed as late as 2004) got to see parts that are not normally open. I have been wanting to see the things here literally forever and now have - my one sorrow is I never went there for an actual bath before the washing baths closed. The quoted text in this post is from the handout they gave us yesterday and their website has more information and the story of their campaign. I was pleasantly surprised to find the building was less f*cked than I thought it would be inside: I gather some parts are more or less derelict but the bits we could see yesterday were in better nick than I expected by the state of it outside. The baths are also a target to lead thieves, who also knock tiles off, and anyone who thinks it might be fun to get up on the roof.

Evidence of neglect

Moseley Road Baths was designed by William Hale and Son, built by W.J. Webb & opened on October 30th 1907. The large City Coat of Arms & Supporters was by Benjamin Creswick & is believed to be the largest in Birmingham. The frontage is mainly red brick & terracotta. Note the three entrances: Men's First Class, Men's Second Class & Women's. Behind the first floor windows is the former staff flat, whilst also visible are the two decorative terra cotta octagonal ventilation turrets, which expelled steam from the private washing bath departments. The date 1906 above the Men's First Class Entrance refers to the year construction commenced.

In the lobby as you go on: ironic, really.

In the entrance hall

In the entrance hall

In the tea room

The reception & ticket office is accessed via the original Men's First Class Entrance. Note the marble water fountains, pool temperature board, commemmorative plaques & oak panelling. As throughout the building, there is extensive use of stained & decorative glass, & glazed brick, & Terrazzo flooring.

To your left is the Tea Room, which was originally the ticket office, behind which were stairs which led to the Money-taker's flat & Swimming Club Committee Room, areas that are sadly closed today owing to significant structural deterioration. Both here & at other points throughout the building, you will find on the walls old photographs & other memorabilia, some of which date back to 1907.

 

The women's baths

The women's baths

The women's baths

The women's baths (looking sinister, this one)

The women's baths

The City Arms in stained glass in the Men's First Class Baths

Men's First Class Baths

Men's First Class Baths

 Moseley Road Baths contains the only complete set of private washing (or 'slipper' bath cubicles extant in Britain, 46 in all. These are in three sections; Men's First Class, Men's Second Class & Women's. Open today is the Women's Department (although there will also be limited access to the Men's First Class Department) where the attendant's room (including fire place & cupboards), ticket kiosk & stained glass windows are of particular interest & rarity. Note the original signage & emergency bell board near to the entrance to the Men's First Class Department.

The Gala Pool

 

Gala Pool changing cubicle

Closed since August 2003, the Gala (or First Class Pool) was arguably the finest swimming pool hall in Britain. Measuring 81ft x 32ft it contains a three-sided spectator gallery & unique balconetted above the deep end in the Gala Pool as well as the original 63 poolside arched glazed brick dressing boxes (a rare feature, shared only with Woodcock Street baths in Gosta Green). 

Second Class Pool: showing effects of maintenance

Pool 2 (formerly the Second Class Pool) originally had 98 changing places, consisting of an open bench & shelf, with ceramic dividers & a communal curtain. Some of these remained in use until around 1979, although the current cubicles date from 2002. As in the Gala Pool, note the decorative cast iron arched roof supports. During World War II, this area was used as a casualty station & the large door at the deep end was installed to allow emergency vehicles to drop off the injured.

The laundry room

 Located on the first floor & accessed by a steep, narrow staircase, the laundry room contains the original steam heated drying racks, now the only survival extant in a British baths. Note also the stone piers on which sat the washing & rinsing tubs. A small sewing room is located at the far end of this room.

As high as I got

 Above the laundry room (& accessed via an even steeper & narrower staircase) is the original cast iron cold-water storage tank, which held 45,000 gallons of water & weighed 200 tons when full.

An oven to push children into

Boys' toys department

As you enter the plant rooms you will pass the base & over of the 110ft high brick chimney stack (sometimes known as Old Tom). In the plant rooms are the two gas-fired boilers. These were installed in the early 1980s but the original boilers were coal-fired & the large door at the rear of the boiler house (& the yard behind it) was used to bring the coal & slack. The original boilers were replaced in the late 1950s following the Clean Air Act, by oil-fired boilers. Adjacent to the boiler-house is the Filtration Room. The two tanks in here are originals, dating from c.1932 & are believed to be the oldest surviving examples in Britain. Also in this room is the well & bore-hole. Measuring 727ft it was the deepest well at any of Birmingham's swimming baths & took around five years to sink.

Unfortunately the reality is the baths are doomed. Despite being one sexy Edwardian baths building, permanent closure is on the cards. This in addition to the visible neglect they have suffered is the frequent death knell for a building, unless someone is prepared to take them on and either open them privately or perform the very tricky and expensive task of converting a purpose-built listed building to another use:

Councillors have been accused of sounding the death knell for an historic Edwardian swimming baths in Birmingham.
The Friends of Moseley Road Baths said Hall Green District Committee members had killed off hopes of restoring the venue by refusing to discuss submitting a bid for a £5 million Heritage Lottery Fund investment at a meeting on Tuesday.
The group said £50,000 was spent putting together a bid, which would have also involved £3 million of council cash, only for the proposal to be scrapped at the last minute.
In a series of angry tweets posted as the meeting was held, it said Labour claims of support for the Balsall Heath baths were a “downright lie” if the party’s councillors refused to submit the bid in the face of “overwhelming support” for it.
Friends secretary Rachel Gillies told the Post: “This says everything you need to know about their attitude to our community.
“People are very angry. At no point have they come to us and addressed our concerns about the need for people to swim.
“There is no strategy and they are hoping this will all just go away.”
Committee member, Coun Lisa Trickett (Labour), insisted the Moseley Road Baths were an “important asset”.
But she admitted it was a “no-brainer” to support alternative £6 million proposals for the new Sparkhill Baths with the overall package of restoring Moseley Road put at £22 million.
The council performed a U-turn on the Heritage Lottery Fund bid last year.
Coun Trickett said last December the cash to meet the council’s end of the commitment “did not exist” and blamed the authority’s previous Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition for failing to identify the money.
She told the Post this week that the council’s money was tied up in settling the £757 million cost of equal pay claims brought by mainly women workers who missed out on bonuses.
“We put a business plan together and were about to submit it when all our capital was frozen because of the pay claim,” she said.
“The baths are an important asset and I’m not going to have them become a political football.
“We should be working with the Friends and looking at a community asset transfer.
“If you have a choice between Sparkhill Baths at £6 million and Moseley Road at £22 million, which one would you go for?
“The one you could guarantee will be open in 2015 or the Heritage Lottery Fund route, where you would be looking at six or seven years before you could get it open? It’s a no-brainer.”
Coun Trickett added that Sparkhill offered “value for money and the best case for deprived communities”.
Of the Lottery Fund plan for Moseley Road, she added: “My view is we can put in a bid down the line but, at this moment, we don’t have the money.
“We aren’t selling off things like the NEC because there’s money in our pocket.”
Based in Balsall Heath, the Grade II* listed Moseley Road Baths opened on October 30, 1907. Two pools were originally in use but only one remains active.
The venue was closed for more than a year for a series of repairs before re-opening in April last year.
In a number of tweets, the Friends group said: “Blocking a comprehensive bid to the HLF to keep the building in use signals the death knell of the baths and a disaster for Balsall Heath.
“I would like to say I’m surprised by the council’s arrogance, but I’m not. ”
“Councillors are hoping that the Friends of Moseley Rd Baths will come up with a solution for Baths. No, you develop a strategy. We’ve been fobbed off for far too long.” Source