Victorian pools

[Dee Dee Warren]

I miss bandecoot :sigh: He would indulge all my arcane rabbit-trails. Anyone here know anything about Victorian pools? I am interesting in:

Pictures
History
Construction materials

and of course, the drains

[technomage]

I miss bandecoot :sigh: He would indulge all my arcane rabbit-trails. Anyone here know anything about Victorian pools? I am interesting in:

Pictures
History
Construction materials

and of course, the drains
Are you referring to swimming pools, or decorative "garden" pools?

[Dee Dee Warren]

swimming pools

[technomage]

swimming pools
http://www.victoriabaths.org.uk/ is a good place to start.

While googling, I found out that many of the public swimming pools (called "baths" in the UK) are crumbling, underfunded, and lack modern facilities. There's a push to get them refurbished, but it's estimated to cost 500 million pounds (just under a billion dollars US.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4699198.stm

[Dee Dee Warren]

That's a very interesting link, thank you. There is a very cool feature of panaromic quicktime "photos" in that link. So they were made of tile? They also seem very deep at the far end. The "males second class" pool is quite ugly but the "males first class" and female pools were quite nice. There appeared to be something like "sinks" along the side, were those waterfalls or something?

And didn't see how they drained them which it appears they did regularly as the males first class pool was used for other purposes, drained, in the winter months.

[SteveF]

Strictly speaking, Victoria Baths (linked to by Justin) isn't actually Victorian, it is Edwardian as it was built just after Queen Victoria died. Anyway, when my mum was younger, she used to swin there, having been born just a few streets away. Needless to say, she was very pleased when it won a grant for restoration.

There are quite a large number of fine public baths remaining in municipal areas. Some are open, many are derelict with people looking to re-open them. They were built over quite a long period, up until the 30s. This is my local one, outdoors, known as a Lido:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oliver.merrington/lidos/lidos1.htm#_Toc2087988

There are campaigns to preserve various public baths. Here is the London version:

http://www.londonpoolscampaign.com/

[Dee Dee Warren]

What is a lido? I never heard that term before.

What was it made out of before the restoration? And quite deep eh, but they are making it more shallow?

The public pool where I grew up has a deep end of 12 feet, with a really really scary drain.

[SteveF]

What is a lido? I never heard that term before.

What was it made out of before the restoration? And quite deep eh, but they are making it more shallow?

The public pool where I grew up has a deep end of 12 feet, with a really really scary drain.

Lido just means outdoor pool. No idea why. They are good fun though; some are heated, some not. I've seen Jude Law in my local one.

I imagine the pool area was tiled (never having been myself) in Victoria Baths. To be honest, I don't really know that much about the restoration; I didn't follow it too closely. I know people in Manchester (home of the industrial revolution!) are pretty pleased about it. I've walked past it a couple of times but never went in before it closed.

[technomage]

That's a very interesting link, thank you. There is a very cool feature of panaromic quicktime "photos" in that link. So they were made of tile?

It looks like they are, but the best shot I have is not one of the panoramics, but this shot (http://www.victoriabaths.org.uk/images/opendays/schools%20ad.jpg), where you can just barely see the tile that the kids are sitting on. There's also this shot (http://www.victoriabaths.org.uk/images/art/humbertovelez.jpg), which shows the tiles somewhat more clearly.


There appeared to be something like "sinks" along the side, were those waterfalls or something?

I couldn't find that picture.


And didn't see how they drained them which it appears they did regularly as the males first class pool was used for other purposes, drained, in the winter months.

*nods* I would assume that they drained through the bottom--probably a grate with cast-iron pipes, perhaps multiple drains. But no, I didn't see any details of it either.

[Dee Dee Warren]

I couldn't find that picture.

In your first picture in the upper right you can see one at the coping.

[technomage]

In your first picture in the upper right you can see one at the coping.
Ah! Hmm ... they look kind of like shields of some sort for the overflow drains, or some sort of decorative sconce--but that's just a guess.

[Dee Dee Warren]

How deep you figure that pool is in the first pic there?

And it is interesting to see a staircase down into the deep end. You would float before you got to the bottom step.

[technomage]

How deep you figure that pool is in the first pic there?

I'm guessing 10-12 feet, based on scale. That's about average for a diving pool, and pools actually haven't changed that much since the 1830s when thet started being built again.


And it is interesting to see a staircase down into the deep end. You would float before you got to the bottom step.

:lol: Not for me--It's almost impossible for me to float except in salt water.

[Dee Dee Warren]

What did they keep the water clean with? Was chlorine around then?

[Teallaura]

From what I can find, they simply changed the water - evidently weekly in the well maintained baths...

[Dee Dee Warren]

That's pretty gross.

[kiwimac]

That's pretty gross.
Definition of "Lido"


The word "lido"(defined)

Subsequently, the word "lido" was used in the 19th century for many fashionable beach resorts. In Europe, a lido became

"a public swimming pool which is outside, or part of a beach, where people could swim or lie in the sun".

The earliest known use of the word for a public swimming pool in London was Edmonton Lido (following reopening after refurbishment) on 27 July 1935. There may be earlier published uses of the word outside London.

In the UK it can be pronounced "lee-do" or "lie-do" - both are acceptable.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/y3yrkw