The Birmingham Baths Committee was an organisation responsible for the provision and maintenance of public swimming and bathing facilities. Birmingham City Council funded, constructed and ran bathing facilities throughout the city. The movement to develop baths and wash houses in Britain had its impetus with the rapid urbanisation of the Industrial Revolution, which was felt acutely in Birmingham, one of England's powerhouses.
In the planning procedures before the construction of a swimming bath, the department regularly partnered with the Free Libraries Committee to provide a new swimming bath alongside a new public library.
Establishment Private baths Birmingham had been provided with swimming baths for some time before the establishment of the Birmingham Baths Committee, which became possible through the introduction of an Act of Parliament. These baths were private and members were often only the wealthy who were able to pay for the service.
The baths received water from natural resources, often springs, which were plentiful throughout the town. Digbeth was a significant site for spring water and had provided water for the area for drinking and washing purposes as well as contributing to the River Rea. However, Digbeth and Deritend became increasingly industrialised and the natural spring was built over as a result.
In William West's "Topography of Warwickshire" (1830), there were around ten private baths. Whilst the dimensions of the baths were small, they provided a range of services and had different aims.Topography of Warwickshire, William West, 1830 A major proprietor of bath houses in Birmingham was a Mr. Monro who had had premises in Lady Well and Snow Hill.The Birmingham Journal: Private Bath Advertisements, 17 May 1851
The campaign for public baths Private baths were advertised as having healing qualities and being able to cure people of diabetes, gout and all skin diseases, amongst others. On 19 November 1844, it was decided that the working class members of society should have the opportunity to access baths, in an attempt to address the health problems of the public. On that day, a committee was formed and a fund was opened. Within a week, £4,000 had been donated to the fund.
On 22 April and 23 April 1845, two lectures were delivered in the town hall urging the provision of public baths in Birmingham and other towns and cities. It was recorded that the attendance of the lectures was low, however, those in attendance were 'highly respectable'.
A second public meeting was held by the committee on 15 June 1845, where they proposed to purchase a plot of land at the corner of Kent Street and Gooch Street in Birmingham. On 24 June 1845, the committee purchased the land for £6,102, which was taken from the funds they had accumulated.
Official establishment of the committee
After a period of campaigning by many committees, the Public Baths and Wash-houses Act received royal assent on 26 August 1846. The Act empowered local authorities to incur expenditure in constructing public swimming baths out of its own funds.
Following the Act of Parliament, the town council called a meeting on 7 October 1846. It was at this meeting that they decided to adopt the act, and at a meeting of the Public Baths Association in November 1846, they decided to give the land purchased by the committee to the council.
On 2 October 1848, the council gave their sanction for the construction of the first public baths and wash house on Kent Street site purchased by the Public Baths Association.
Baths owned by the committee The committee constructed many public baths and never acquired private baths. Also, Birmingham was undergoing a period of change in that it absorbed many urban districts which were not within the boundaries before. As a result of this, the committee often gained the ownership of bathing facilities owned by the district councils before.
Kent Street Baths
Kent Street Baths were the first baths opened by the committee. Construction began on 29 October 1849, with the laying of the first foundation stone. The baths were opened on 12 May 1851,Aris's Gazette: Birmingham Baths Committee Public Notice, 12 May 1851 however, the baths were not completed until 1852. The building was designed by D. R. Hill. The baths were close to the town centre and so received a good amount of water. However, this supply of water posed a problem to builders of the baths who found it difficult to prevent water from entering and flooding the construction site. The final cost of the baths was £23,000. The building contained "sixtynine private hot and cold water baths, two large swimming baths, three plunge baths and a public wash-house with laundry".The City of Birmingham Baths Department, 1851-1951. Birmingham: the council, 1951. p.8
Victorian Turkish baths were later built on the site of the old wash-houses and opened to the public on 27 January 1879.'The Corporation hot-air baths in Kent Street' Birmingham Daily Post (24 January 1879) They comprised fourteen dressing cubicles, a plunge pool, two hot rooms maintained at 145 °F and 195 °F, a shampooing room with a marble slab and a variety of showers, and a cooling-room with eight resting rooms.
On 30 March 1914, a women's swimming baths and baths for women were opened in an adjoining building to the main building on Gooch Street.
In 1930, the main buildings, with the exception of the women's bath on Gooch Street, were demolished and new facilities were built in a more modern style. The building contained a gala swimming bath, private baths, Russian and Victorian-style Turkish baths, offices and a repair and maintenance depot. It was opened on 29 May 1933.Official opening after reconstruction of Kent Street baths, 29 May 1933, Birmingham, England, Baths Department, 1933 Designed by Hurley Robinson, it was of art deco architecture and remains today as Kent House.
Because it had been impossible to include Turkish baths in the new Monument Road baths (below) the baths section of the new Kent Street baths was enlarged by way of compensation. This now included a large cooling-room with twenty-two dressing cubicles, three hot rooms, two Russian steam cabinets, four shampooing rooms, needle showers, and a tiled plunge pool.
The bath suffered heavy damage during World War II with the loss of the gala bath to a heavy night raid on 3 December 1940. The surrounding buildings were also damaged from the blast. When the war finished, the committee repaired the baths.
In September 2009, after lying empty for years, the baths were demolished by Benacre Property, the landowner, provoking a local outcry. Despite being Grade B locally listed, Birmingham City Council were unable to save the building and the site has now become a surface car park.
Woodcock Street Baths
At a meeting of the council on 28 September 1852, the committee were advised to look for another site for a second suite of baths. The area selected for the suite of baths was Duddeston. The sites were narrowed down to Woodcock Street and construction began on 25 July 1859. Construction was completed considerably quicker than that of the Kent Street Baths and the baths were opened on 27 August 1860. The buildings were of a Gothic style as opposed to the Baroque style of the original Kent Street Baths.
Facilities provided included a large swimming pool, suites of private baths for men and woman, each with a small plunge pool. Additions were made which included a first class swimming pool, suites of first class private baths and a steam laundry to ease the demand at Kent Street.
After World War I, it was decided that the baths should be reconstructed. The buildings, with the exception of the 1902 bath, were demolished and the new buildings were opened on 14 April 1926. A gala bath, suites of private baths for men and women, a new laundry and offices were constructed.
The baths were improved again in 1948 with the installation of underwater lighting, improved lighting in the bath hall and the application of sprayed asbestos acoustic treatment to the bath hall ceiling.
Northwood Street Baths In 1853, the inhabitants of the northern districts of Birmingham campaigned for the construction of a swimming bath in the area. A site between Northwood Street and Kenyon Street was chosen and construction began on 30 May 1861. On 5 March 1862, the baths had been completed and were opened to the public.
The architecture was of red brick with a blue brick base. The façade was decorated in block stone dressings and stone string courses with moulded cornice and cappings.
The baths closed in 1947 as a result of being destroyed beyond repair by air raids in World War II. The buildings were the oldest owned by the committee as the Kent Street and Woodcock Street baths had been reconstructed during their life times.
The baths offered first and second class swimming baths as well as large private baths. The private baths were transformed into a First Aid post upon the outbreak of the Second World War.
Monument Road Baths Providing baths for the northwest of the town had been an issue since 1867, however, action did not begin until 1877 when a site at Monument Road was acquired by the committee. Construction of the building commenced early in 1881 and the baths opened on 27 February 1883.
The baths provided the area with first and second class baths, suites of first and second class men's and women's private baths, and Victorian Turkish baths. It fast became the second most popular bath owned by the committee, with attendances only being exceeded by the baths at Kent Street.
Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, it was decided to demolish the buildings and to construct a modern facility. However, as a result of planning restrictions, the site was resized and made smaller allowing the construction of only one swimming bath and no Turkish baths. The baths were opened on 27 June 1940 during World War II.
The baths were demolished at the end of the 1980s..
Green Lane Baths
Talk of providing the areas of Bordesley and Deritend and the adjoining wards with baths had been around before that of the Monument Road Baths. The committee presented the council with a site they believed suitable for the construction of the baths, however, this was rejected on the grounds that a cheaper site be found.
By the end of 1887, no alternative site had become available and the original proposals were renewed. There were slight amendments made to the proposals, but again the proposals were rejected.
In 1890, the committee joined with the Free Libraries Committee who had also been looking for a site for a new library in Bordesley. A proposal was put forward by the two committees for the site at Green Lane, Small Heath for the erection of baths and a library. The council approved the proposal but financial problems meant that the baths did not open until 29 October 1902.
The baths provided first and second class swimming baths and first and second private baths for men and women. The baths suffered severe damage during an air raid in the night of 18 October 1940. After the end of the war, the council granted permission for the reconstruction and reparations of the baths and work commenced in 1951.
Moseley Road Baths
The approval for the construction of baths at Moseley Road came about through the discussions for the inclusion of Balsall Heath into Birmingham. The order for the inclusion of the area into Birmingham came into effect on 1 October 1891 and the committee were soon told to find a suitable location to construct baths.