Monday 7 October 2013

Victoria baths part one





























Victoria baths were designed by architect Henry Price and opened to the public in 1906. The baths were described as a "water palace" and you can see why, the building features fine terracotta, tiles, mosaic floors and stained glass windows. I was completely blown away by the amazing bold colours, patterns, textures and build quality. Could you imagine how brilliant it would be to go for a relaxing bath surrounded by this decor? Sadly after 87 years the baths closed in 1993, despite protests from the local community. The council then announced that they were planning on demolishing the building! This understandably caused an upset amongst a lot of people, shortly after the friends of Victoria baths got involved and the building featured on the BBC's 'Restoration" programme and was awarded £3.5 million towards the restoration work needed. Work began in 2007 and thankfully the baths are now open to the public at select times throughout the year for tours as well as events, such as vintage fairs, photography classes, artist installations and cinema screenings. All these events are used to help fund the continuing restoration work that is still needed to allow the baths to eventually open to the public again as a working water palace. For more info have a look at the website.


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