Description

CHESTER CITY (EM)

SJ4166 UNION STREET
1932-1/6/271 (North side)
10/01/72 Public Baths

GV II

Public swimming and slipper baths. 1898-1901. By John Douglas.
For Chester City Council. Stone-dressed red brick and timber
framing with plaster panels; cast-iron and steel internally;
grey-green slate roofs.
PLAN/EXTERIOR: partly 2 storeys, partly one storey: the front
to Union Street has a symmetrical 2-storey entrance and
administrative block with caretaker's flat with single-storey
slipper-bath wing, left, and 2 swimming baths behind;
boiler-house at rear, left of larger bath.
5 stone steps to pair of recessed entrances, each having
replaced double doors; between the entrances a pair of
ogee-headed leaded lights, stone-panel above with City arms
and motto; a leaded light in each side-wall of each entry. The
wing left of entrances has alternating single and paired
lights, under 3 stone-coped gables. The first floor has a
mullioned 4-light leaded casement to each side of a canted
5-light mullioned oriel, leaded, in a jettied timber-framed
range above the entrances; a brick chimney, projecting on
corbels, to each side has a plinthed stack with separated
round flues, spiral and chevron moulded.
The right side to Bath Street has 2-storey end-gable to the
front wing, the upper storey timber-framed; a low linking bay,
then the side of panelled brickwork to the smaller swimming
bath, which has a full-length roof-lantern.
The rear to Forest Street has the gable ends to both swimming
baths similarly-roofed, with lanterns.
The boiler house has a tapered octagonal chimney on a square
stone-capped plinth; the facade to Union Street and the
swimming baths behind are not unified in style or materials.
INTERIOR: the swimming baths have iron or steel trusses. The
larger bath has a gallery to sides and ends on arcade with
cast-iron columns and fretted spandrels.
(Hubbard E: The Work of John Douglas: London: 1991-: 196-7;
270).

Listing NGR: SJ4108966341

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Public baths, Chester at Wikipedia
• Public baths, Chester official website
• Wikidata Q7257703

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
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  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)