Victoria Baths

The Victoria Baths, near Longsight in Manchester, were designed by Manchester's first City Architect, Henry Price,
and opened in 1906.
The design of this building is spectacular.
The facade has multi-coloured brickwork and teracotta decoration, and inside there are glazed
tiles from floor to ceiling and most of the windows have decorative stained glass.

For 86 years the Victoria Baths provided both essential cleaning and leisure facilities.
Private baths and a laundry were housed there, along with three swimming pools and a Turkish Baths.
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, which is still in situ and is beautiful.

The Victoria Baths was closed in 1993.
The building is now in very poor repair and yet thankfully most of the stained glass and original tiling remaining.
Victoria Baths is listed grade II on the List of Buildings of Architectural and Historic Interest.

The plan to provide Baths to the three wards of Longsight, St Luke's and Rusholme was first considered by the Baths
and Wash-Houses Committee of Manchester Corporation in 1897.
They advertised for offers of land in the district and purchased the site on High Street (now Hathersage Road) for
£750 in 1899.
The plans and estimates were then the responsibility of the City Surveyor.

In June 1902, Mr Henry Price was appointed as the first City Architect.
He became responsible for carrying out this ambitious public building project, which would include 3 swimming pools,
64 wash-baths, Turkish and Russian Baths, clubrooms, boilers and calorifiers and a substantial 4 bedroomed flat for the
Superintendent of the Baths and Wash-Houses.

The original estimates were £57,000, almost twice the usual cost of building a public baths.
This sum was considered too much public money to spend and so the plans were amended.
Messres Normanton & Sons were contracted as builders for the sum of £39,316 10s 0d.
Building commenced and a foundation stone was laid in the 1st Class Males / Gala Pool in 1903.

During the building period, the cost of completing the Victoria Baths rose steadily.

By 1905 the cost of completing the building had climbed to over £59,000 and The Baths and Wash-Houses Committee
had to defend their decision to spend such a sum. The committee chair stated in a letter; "With regard to the total probable expenditure of £59,144, the committee beg to inform the council that their desire throughout has been to have these VictoriaBaths properly adapted in every detail for the purpose they have to serve.
This has increased the first cost, but the Baths are so constructed that it is anticipated that the cost of maintenance will be materially reduced."

From 1906 to 1993 the Victoria Baths provided the residents of Central Manchester with a wide range of facilities.
This was a very big thing back then, especially considering hotels in manchester and other places with such facilities were still a rarity during this time. At the time of opening, few of the houses in the area had bathrooms, so the slipper baths or wash baths were an important amenity, providing a 'real bath' for many people.

Slipper bath

The Victoria Baths were built with three distinct sections - Males 1st Class, Males 2nd Class and Females.

First class males pool

Each class of user had their own entrance, swimming pool and slipper baths. Mixed bathing was introduced in Manchester
with great caution in 1914. initially for only one day a week, and by the 1920's mixed bathing sessions were held every Sunday morning at Victoria Baths in
the 1st Class Pool. This enabled families to swim together for the first time.

 Water polo was a popular sport at this time and
for 1d you could watch a water polo match in the gala pool.

Victoria Baths continued to be used during the second world war, although the swimming club suspended activities.
One Manchester resident recalls spending his Sunday mornings in the war years diving in the deep end of Victoria Baths
for sixpence's thrown in by American GI's sitting on the balcony.

The 1st Class Pool was designed so that it could be floored over during the winter months and used as a venue for dances, concerts and lectures. In the fifties music was provided by the Phil Moss Orchestra, Henry Hall and other lesser known bands. 

In the 1980's the 2nd Class Males Pool was floored over and the cubicles removed.
This pool hall was then used as an indoor sports hall.

In 1952 the first municipal Aeratone therapeutic bath in England was installed at Victoria Baths.
This is what we would now call a jacuzzi. Along with the Turkish Baths the Aerotone was a very popular facility and both were used right up until the time the baths were closed in 1993. The Turkish Bath, as well as providing rest and relaxation, has been a popular meeting place for business people over the years. It seems that many a deal has been struck,
or a new business venture planned, whilst lying semi-naked in the hot rooms or whilst cooling off in the opulent Rest room.

Swimmers Of Note

The channel swimmer Sunny Lowry began her swimming career at Victoria Baths.
This is where she broke all the rules about the length of time she should stay in the pool and she became very successful
in swimming competitions and diving skills. She joined the South Manchester Swimming Club and later went on to train at
Levenshulme Baths, then Lake Windermere and in the sea at Westgate. Sunny succeeded at swimming the channel on her
third attempt in August 1933, becoming one of the first English women to swim the channel.

   

The Olympic swimmer John Besford trained at Victoria Baths. Besford upset Hitler by winning the 1934 European 100
metres backstroke title in Magdesburg. His victory infuriated Hitler who had presented a magnificent 1cwt bronze eagle
trophy on the assumption that the German favourite, Ernst Kuppers would win.


Manchester City Council decided to close Victoria Baths in 1993. This produced a vigorous reaction from local people who greatly valued the swimming facilities, the Turkish Baths and the building itself.

Demonstrations were held, a petition submitted to the council and finally a number of people occupied the Baths to try and prevent closure. Despite these efforts the Baths were closed on 13th March 1993 - Manchester Council could not justify the high cost of maintenance and remedial repairs.

But ever since the closure ex-users of the Baths and other local residents have been working to try and find a way of saving the building for public use. The Victoria Baths Trust was formed in 1993 and began to investigate the possibility of running the Victoria Baths independently. The Victoria Baths Trust and the Friends of Victoria Baths seek to restore and
re-open the Turkish Baths, the Aeratone and at least one of the swimming pools for public use.

The Victoria Baths Trust carried out a £244,000 programme of emergency work to Victoria Baths in 2002 with funding from English Heritage and the A6 Partnership.

Lottery funding for a proposal to restore Victoria Baths as a Healthy Living Centre was rejected in 2002, but the Trust continues to investigate a viable plan for the restoration of the building in partnership with Manchester City Council.

The Victoria Baths Trust have a great website, with tons of history and old photographs, view it here:

>>www.victoriabaths.org.uk<<