Description

ISLINGTON

TQ3086SE HORNSEY ROAD 635-1/22/515 (East side) No.260 Hornsey Road Baths and attached railings

II

Public baths and wash house. Dated 1892 on the foundation stone. Designed by A. Hessell Tiltman and built by Macfarlane Bros. Red brick laid in English bond with dressings of cut and moulded brick and of stone; roof of Welsh slate. Three and five storeys over basement, nine-window range. Queen Anne style. A tall, partly gabled wing to right over entrance arcade; three-storey wing to left, partly under a parapet and partly under a gable; wash house wing runs back from the three-storey wing. The entrance consists of a four-centred carriage arch flanked by round-arched pedestrian entrances, all three running through to the yard behind; they have pilasters, archivolts, keystones and intricately cut heraldic beasts carrying coats of arms to either side; oculus with scrolled consoles to right over foundation stone; cornice over frieze, probably of stone, with incised lettering 'PUBLIC BATHS AND WASH HOUSES'; the frieze incorporates the belly of a three-storey canted oriel with flat-arched windows with architraves and pediments to first floor, the oriel set in a round-arched recess under the gable; other windows in this wing are flat-arched with moulded brick architraves, those to the first floor under floating pediments; cornice over the second floor with lettering 'PARISH OF ST MARY ISLINGTON'; brick sill bands; keyed oculus and cornice to third floor; clock tower to right of gable with brick pilasters, dentil cornice, scrolled pediment, ogee roof of lead and arcaded lantern. The three-storey wing has flat-arched windows throughout, those to the ground floor in moulded brick architraves, with scrolled pediment clasping enlarged double keystone in gauged brick; first-floor windows have eared brick architraves; second-floor windows without architraves but the three northernmost have panelled pilasters between; modillion cornice; gable over these windows with coat of arms in elaborate foliage surround of cut and moulded brick, parapet over the rest; rear elevation detailed in a similar way with flat-arched windows in moulded brick architraves and keyed oculi to tower bay. Wash house wing to north of yard with round-arched entrance with Gibbs surround under entablature and pediment lettered 'WASH HOUSE'; flat-arched windows with moulded brick architraves and aprons with double ogee profile. Area railings with decorative panels; iron gates with spearhead railings and scrollwork. Wing to east c.1965. There is a remarkable neon Diving Lady on the South flank elevation, one of 12 such illuminated features placed on swimming pools and lidos in London in the 1930's and now believed to be the only survivor.

Listing NGR: TQ3070486406

External Links

• Wikidata Q26502718

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Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6