Victorian Turkish Baths

@victurk

Malcolm Shifrin FRHistS—"Victorian Turkish Baths": 'a major act of historical recovery', 'readable', 'scholarly', 'something in it for everyone'. Profusely illustrated. worldcat.org/title/931082056. Complementary website

585 Siguiendo676 Seguidores1113 Publicaciones

Bluesky

¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y victurk.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· 25d

Can't find an image of my first one, the amazing Liverpool Ref Library sheaf catalogue, so this rather less posh Glasgow one will have to do. But how much easier they were for the public to use, & no-one standing in front of, & blocking the adjacent dawers—& a dictionary catalogue too! Total bliss!

A couple of vols of Glasgow Libraries' sheaf catalogue.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· 26d

Amazing. Didn't realise that light sockets were 1st electric power points. But it's clear this was just a development from gas points. Wonder if you've seen something like this before—typical cabinet "Turkish bath", but normally heated by a spirit lamp. victorianturkishbath.org/_3TOPICS/Ato...

An advanced cabinet "Turkish bath" of the type usually heated by a spirit lamp. Source currently unknown, but probably around the turn of the 19th- and 20th-centuries (?).+

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· 27d

A Delightful Book of Ours

Front and Back covers of the 1964 Gallimard edition of Ioneso's "The bald prima donna", copy no.1659

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· 28d

#onthisday, 14 July 1868, Gertrude Bell—archaeologist & 'The woman who made Irak'—was born. One might suspect that she discovered #TurkishBaths in Baghdad. Not so—she was born in the Lothian Bell family home, Washington Hall, #Washington, Co Durham where her grandparents had installed one. 🗃️ #C19th

Photo shows full-length portrait of Gertrude Bell, in Iraq in 1909. She became a famed archaeologist, mountain climber and politician and was appointed Administrator of Arabia. Here, she stands in front of a tent.

Washington New Hall, in Co Durham, was designed by architect A B Higham between 1854 and 1857 for the important local industrialist Lothian Bell. His grand-daughter Gertrude was born there in 1868, and she would have been familiar with the lean-to Victorian Turkish bath which Lothian later installed there when architect Philip Webb enlarged the house for him.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· 28d

#onthisday, 14 July 1868, Richard Mahoney & Townsend Trench opened #TurkishBaths in #Kenmare, Co #Kerry, in Old Bridge Street next to the courthouse. Called 'very handsome' by Dr Barter—lecturing in Kenmare soon after they opened. Little else is known about them, nor even when they closed. 🗃️ #C19th

Newsclip before the baths opened from the Tralee Chronicle (28 April 1868). It announces the forthcoming opening and a lecture by Dr Barter. It also expresses the hope that it will be 'properly appreciated in this remote barony, and that in addition to the salt water bathing in our harbour, the gentlemen's gout, the poor man's rheumatism, and the screwed-up serf's melancholy, will find in the Turkish Bath a speedy, a reviving restorative, a soothing and effectual remedy.'

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· 29d

He also designed the Hotel Metropole in Brighton with its now sadly demolished Victorian #TurkishBaths

Architect sketch of the cooling-room and plunge pool in the Metropole's Victorian Turkish baths.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· 29d

We live in a house originally designed by an architect for himself. In addition to this, he placed a central heating panel alonf the front. This stops the room getting steamed up when you run the hot tap in a cold room. He wasn't to know that we now only use his shower. (We don't store coal in it!)

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· 29d

#onthisday, 13 July 1878, Mr W Rolley opened #TurkishBaths in Gower Street, #Sheffield. Nothing is so far known about these baths except what is stated in the advertisement. 🗃️ #C19th

Services and prices in the advertisement from the Sheffield Independent (5 October 1878) are similar to that in an advertisement appearing in the Independent on 11 July announcing the baths' forthcoming opening. 1/- and 6d according to the time of day; women had 1½ weekdays. Further research needed!

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· 29d

#onthisday, 13 July 1870, Dr Richard Barter built the last of several #TurkishBaths provided for patients at his St Ann's Hydropathic Establishment near #Blarney, Co #Cork. He was to die 3 months later. It was designed by his architect namesake Mr Richard Barter. 🗃️ #C19th

A view of the baths on a terrace below the level of the main hydro building, from a contemporary stereocard. The baths were of a strange combination of styles, with two wings of tall, slightly arched windows standing on either side of a pedimented portico, behind which was a tall windowed tower supporting a cupola.

The Turkish baths cooling-room elaborately decorated showing two sculptured figures on supporting columns, behind which is a large circular ottoman. To the right are dressing cubicles and a partitioned area, whose purpose is so far unknown. (The Lawrence Photograph Collection L_NS_01091. Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland)

A bewhiskered Dr Richard Barter standing in front of an open door leading into the baths. (Harvard College Library Widener Med 1878.69)

Head and shoulders photo of the doctor's namesake, Mr Richard Barter, sculptor and architect. He was commissioned by Dr Barter to design 14 Turkish baths in Ireland and another in London. (Photographer unknown)

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jul 11

#onthisday, 11 July (or possibly 12 July) in the year 100 BCE, Julius Caesar was born. After invading Britain, his forces set up camps around the country, building baths wherever they settled. On these, Richard Barter based the Victorian #TurkishBaths, known in Europe as Irish-Roman baths 🗃️ #C19th

Portrait bust of Gaius Iulius Caesar in the Musei Vaticani (Stato Città del Vaticano). (Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Map of the Roman baths in Britain (Courtesy Tony Rook, from his book 'Roman baths in Britain')

Steamy hot room and hot pool at the bath-house at Chesters Roman Fort, Northumberland. Photo looks from the hot room into the hot pool behind. The furnace (not shown) is to the left. Excellent English Heritage explanatory panel in the foreground explains how the baths were heated.

Part of the cooling-room at the bath-house at Chesters Roman Fort, Northumberland. Set into the wall at the back are niches—which it is generally accepted—were for storing bathers' clothes while using the baths.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jul 11

#onthisday, 11 July 1937, composer George Gershwin died at a tragically early age of 38. As a teenager, he worked with his brother Ira at the famous #NewYork Lafayette #TurkishBaths, briefly owned by their father Morris. It was later the setting for Charles Demuth's evocative paintings. 🗃️ #C19th

Painting of George Gershwin at the piano, by William Auerbach-Levy. (Wikimedia Commons cc-by-sa-2.0)

Plan of the Lafayette Baths and Hotel at 16-20 Lafayette Place, from Vol.3 of the Sanborn Insurance maps of the City of New York, 1904. (Public domain)

Three men standing chatting in Charles Demuth's painting 'Turkish bath with self portrait', 1918. (Public domain)

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jul 10

#onthisday, 10 July 1856, Nikola Tesla was born. A #Serb physicist and engineer, he developed alternating current, without which Victorian #TurkishBaths would not have had efficient electric fans to remove sweat-laden air. Responsible for many other inventions but, happily, not the car! 🗃️ #C19th

Head and shoulders view of Nikola Tesla in the 1880s at around the time he was developing the AC motor.

Diagram of Tesla's electro magnetic motor from his patent application.

A diagram showing the flow of hot air, through the hot rooms, cooling as it goes, and being extracted by an electric fan, to be replaced by fresh hot air in a continuous cycle.

Decorative grating over the stale air extraction duct at the Roman Baths in Jesus Lane, Cambridge (https://www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/AtoZEstab/England/CambJ/3BathsEng.htm)

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jul 7

#onthisday, 7 July 1930, Arthur Conan Doyle died. He was a frequenter of #TurkishBaths, especially Nevill's Northumberland Ave establishment www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/... where Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson were relaxing at the start of the Adventure of the Illustrious Client. 🗃️ #C19th

Photograph of Arthur Conan Doyle, seated sideways on a chair. Published in "Men and Women of the Day 1893", Eglington & Co., England, 1893. (Public domain, via Wiki Commons)

The corner entrance to the gentlemen's baths surmounted by a large clock. The two upper floors were let as offices. The photo dates from the late 1990s, and the building, but alas not the baths, still stands.

The gentlemen's cooling-room on the ground floor at Northumberland Avenue, overlooked by a balcony in the tepidarium on the first floor. Easy chairs and occasional tables, together with an elegant decorative fountain in the background.

Howard K Elcock's illustration of Holmes and Watson relaxing 'over a smoke in the pleasant lassitude of the drying-room'. Watson, never good on details, refers to the room as the drying room, but in fact they must have been in the smoking room (unusually) leading off one of the hot rooms on the second floor.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jul 7

#onthisday 7 Jul 1873 The Victorian #Preston journalist Anthony Hewitson "rose about 8; did not feel so well—sore throat and achy; at night, 8.30 went to Singleton's #TurkishBaths in Grimshaw St; remained in it by myself till 10; then, while cooling down had a glass of beer. Home at 10.30" 🗃️ #C19th

Head and shoulders portrait of Singleton on the jacket of Volume one (1865-1887) of his diaries edited by Andrew Hobbs—and a fascinating read it is too.

Advertisement for Singleton's Turkish bath published in the Preston Chronicle on 14 Jun 1873, a few weeks before Singleton's visit recorded above. The ad is a testimonial from the Reverend G Beardsell of All Saints, Preston, who recommends it especially for cases of rheumatism.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jul 6

#onthisday, 6 July 1863, the #TurkishBaths at #Saltaire opened in Caroline Street. Designed by Lockwood & Mawson, architects of much of Titus Salt's company town. Not over-used & opening hrs progressively reduced. Closed & demol. late 1880s www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/... +ALT 🗃️ #C19th

Seemingly the only contemporary image of any part of the Turkish baths building, this partial view of the town shows the baths' chimney at the far right.

Three-quarter length portrait of Titus Salt, seated, facing slightly left. Wood engraving. 1872. (Harper's Monthly, vol. 44, public domain)

Cross section of the baths building showing the hot air duct under the caldarium, and the double-door hot-air lock. Room X may have been the cooling-room. (Courtesy Shipley College, Saltaire Archives—my labelling)

Basement plan of the baths building. (Courtesy Shipley College, Saltaire Archives)

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jul 1

#onthisday, 1 July 1929, #Scarborough Town Council opened Medical and #TurkishBaths in the converted town house, Londesborough Lodge, owned by the late Earl of Londesborough. 3 hot rooms. Designed 'to be a rival to Harrogate' the baths soon became unprofitable, but remained open till 1974. 🗃️ #C19th

Photograph shows the rear of the building from a lower level garden.

Photograph shows the treatment room fitted with facilities for a range of douches and massages. A patient lies on a 'treatment bed' with an attendant ministering over her.

Photograph of the tiled Turkish bath shampooing room. At the rear is a washbasin. To the right is the shampoo slab on which a bather lies. The masseur stands on a slatted platform.

Photograph of the cooling-room somewhat sparsely furnished with chairs and occasional tables. Three walls are lined with changing cubicles, at least some of which appear to have couches. The cubicles have tall curtained arched openings.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jul 1

#onthisday, 1 July 1805, David Urquhart, Scottish-born diplomat & MP, was born. Together with Irish physician Dr Richard Barter, he reintroduced the hot dry air baths of the ancient Romans to Ireland & Britain. They are now known as Victorian #TurkishBaths, & in Europe as Irish-Roman baths. 🗃️ #C19th

Sketch of David Urquhart (1805-1877) by an unknown artist . Collection of National Galleries Scotland. (Image CC by NC)

Title page of Urquhart's quirky travel book 'The Pillars of Hercules' in which there are two chapters on the hot air baths of Morocco and Turkey. This book inspired Dr Richard Barter to contact its author to ask for help in building a "Turkish bath" at St Anne's, his hydropathic establishment near Blarney, Co Cork. The book became the bible of the Turkish Bath Movement. Urquhart helped his Manchester Foreign Affairs Committee to build the first such bath in England in 1857.

One of George Daniel Stevenson's two presentation illustrations for architect George Somers Clarke's clients, the London and Provincial Turkish Bath Company Limited, prior to the construction of the Urquhart-inspired London Hammam at 76 Jermyn Street, London.

John Tenniel's caricature of Urquhart from Punch (7 April 1849) showing him asleep in bed, dreaming that he is straddled by a bear upon which, in military uniform, the Russian tsar sits. The caption (not shown here) reads, ‘Mr Urquhart appears to labour under the fearful fancy that [Tsar] Nicholas is about to invade this country mounted on the Great Bear, a constellation which our unfortunate dreamer was probably born under.’

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jul 1

#onthisday, 1 July 1861, G E Allshorn opened #TurkishBaths in Princes Street, #Edinburgh. Under several owners they remained open till c.1920. Part of the building (octagonal) still stood in 2023. For the bath's history, & what can still seen: www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/... 🗃️ #C19th

Artist's impression of the sudatorium at the baths. In the centre is a bather being shampooed. Benches line the room. A bather sits on one of them and another lies on his back. At the rear, a fourth bather sits in a lounger. (Image from Allshorn's 1861 booklet 'The Turkish or Roman Bath' which describes the baths.)

Plan of the Turkish baths extracted form Coad's 1892 Fire maps.

The top of the Turkish baths sign is at the bottom of the photograph of Princes Street which was taken in the latter part of the 19th century. Thanks Celal Erdogdu and Tony Miller for the photo taken at Edinburgh's Camera Obscura (https://camera-obscura.co.uk/), and for the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions image.

This image clearly shows the octagonal lantern of a hot room at the baths as it was in 2018. The roofing of other areas of the bath is probably also visible but it is not known how much of the building remained at the time of the photo. (Photo: Google Maps)

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 30

#onthisday, 30 June 2009, the great choreographer & dancer Pina Bausch died. One of her last works was 'Nefes' ('Breath' in Turkish) inspired by her love of Turkey & set (if not quite in a Victorian #TurkishBaths, but in a hammam. "Not one stereotypical reference point or prejudice" in it. 🗃️ #C19th

A smiling Pina Bausch (1940-2009) in her dressing room.

From the performance at Sadler's Wells, 24 June 2012. (Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch in Nefes. © Zerrin Aydin Herwegh.)

From the performance at Teatro Alfa, 10 January 2018

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 29

#onthisday, 29 June 1877, the #Aberdeen Turkish Bath Establishment opened its 'experimental' #TurkishBaths in a wooden building at 28½ Crown Street, where it remained till 1880, when new baths opened in an appropriately named Bath Street. Men and women. Dr Johnstone offered consultations. 🗃️ #C19th

Half-page display advertisement from a local directory stating opening hours for gentlemen and ladies. A range of prices from 2/6d to 1/- according to the time of day. At the cheaper times 6d. extra is charged for a shampoo.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 29

#onthisday, 29 June 1885, London's #EarlsCourt #TurkishBaths opened opposite the station. Designed for owner Mary Ann Thomas by Charles Harrison Townsend, later to design the #HornimanMuseum. 3 hot rooms, cooling-room, plunge, shampooing, &c. Closed after damage during the 1941 Blitz. +ALT 🗃️ #C19th

Typographic advertisement in the Richmond Herald (11 Sep 1886) promoting Turkish baths for perfect cleanliness, to preserve health, prevent disease, and cure the sick. Quotations from Erasmus Wilson and Dr John Le Gay Brereton. The baths were open from 8.00 am till 10.00 pm on weekdays and till 11.00 am on Sundays. Women's days were initially on Tuesdays and Fridays, though in 1888, separate women's baths were added.

In 1903 the baths were bought by Archibald Reynolds James who, some time around 1927 published a booklet about, and illustrating, the baths. It is not known how accurate the published images are, and James was probably romanticising his venture somewhat.

Sketch of the women's cooling room with resting cubicles on the left. A woman is leaning on a balustrade probably overlooking an area of the baths on a lower floor. There's a stained glass panelled door on the right and a curtained area which might have been for shampooing, or alternately just for dressing and undressing.

Photograph from the booklet showing an electric treatment room with a somewhat disturbing array of electrical devices including an electric bath.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 28

The sober exterior of a building in Friar Lane, #Leicester gives no hint of the magnificence of the interior, in which a dome surmounts the octagonal cooling room of John Breedon Everard's Victorian #TurkishBaths which it housed between 1872 & around 1903. #ceilingsonsunday 🗃️ #C19th

The underside of the dome over the cooling-room in John Breedon Everard's Victorian Turkish bath is divided into eight segments. More at https://victorianturkishbath.org/0PIXMONTHLY/pix/2015/1502LeicFriar_w.htm (Photo courtesy Thomas Grant & Company Ltd)

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 28

#onthisday, 28 June 1880, the #Aberdeen Hydropathic & Turkish Bath Co Ltd opened a temperance hotel and, at the northernmost of 3 entrances, #TurkishBaths in a newly named Bath Street. Separate baths for men & women. Hot rooms at 130°F, 160°F, & 200°F, plunge, & cooling-room. Closed c.1900. 🗃️ #C19th

Advertisement for the hotel and baths from a local directory published some time around 1888. A woodcut shows the long side of the building with the café on the left and the Turkish baths on the right. The building is four storeys high with a fifth in the roof-space. Though it looks as though built along a horizontal line, it is in fact slightly concave.

A photograph of the building taken in 1972, long after the baths closed, gives a clearer view of the triangular shape of the building. The entrance to the Turkish baths was in the projecting section at the extreme right of the photo.

The northernmost part of the building which housed the Turkish baths in its several floors. The sign 'Bath Street' is mounted just above the ground floor level. There were separate entrances for men and women so perhaps the step at the corner led to one of the entrances, now replaced by a window.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 26

#onthisday, 26 June 1873, #Kilkenny Corporation opened Public Reclining (ie, slipper) and #TurkishBaths at John's Quay East. They were refurbished around 1886, and closed c.1917. Further information in Edward J Law's interesting article at kilkennyarchaeologicalsociety.ie/first-kilken... 🗃️ #C19th

Typographic advertisement from the Kilkenny Moderator (28 Jun 1873) published on the Saturday after opening day, giving details of opening hours, and charges ranging from 1/- to 1/6d. according to the time of day.

Typographic advertisement from the Kilkenny Moderator (12 Jul 1873) published two weeks after the opening of the baths, and specifically aimed at women, telling them that there were 'Reduced prices of admission for the Female Working Classes after 6.00 pm on Tuesdays.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 25

#onthisday, 25 June 1912, the Anglo-Dutch painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema, died. A popular Victorian painter of classical subjects—long out of favour & now, perhaps, being re-assessed—he is known for his paintings of NOT Roman baths, & of certainly NOT Irish-Roman or Victorian #TurkishBaths. 🗃️ #C19th

Head and shoulders photograph of Lawrence Alma-Tadema, the Dutch-British painter, taken in 1870.

"A Favourite Custom" painted by Tadema and dated 1909. It shows two women in the process of splashing each other in a plunge pool, with part of the peopled frigidarium, or cooling-room behind.

"The Tepidarium", an oil painting by Tadema (1881) showing a woman reclining on a marble seat in a presumed first hot room. She holds a strigil (used for scraping oil off her body) in her right hand.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 24

#onthisday, 24 June 1861. Richard Taylor opened #TurkishBaths at the back of 17 Wadham Street, #Weston-super-Mare, with its entrance from Rye Lane at the rear. They remained open with later owners till the site was sold for redevelopment in 1882. www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/... 🗃️ #C19th

An early advertisement in the Weston-super-Mare Gazette (8 Nov 1862) claims that 'Cleanliness, health & comfort can only be had at the Improved or Turkish Bath (Revived by Dr Barter). Ladies are attended by the owner's wife on three weekdays. Admission 2/6d. from 8.00 till 6.00 and 1/- from 6.00 till 8.00.

21st century photograph of the main frontage of the baths building by Joy Wilson. Appears to be plain modern stucco, with a door and two windows at the ground floor level, and three windows above.

Plan showing Rye lane where the main entrance to the baths was located. (Courtesy Joy Wilson)

21st century photograph of the rear of the building taken during alterations. There is what must have originally been an extension with an apex roof added to the main building. On the ground floor is a door with a small window to the left. There is a large window above, together with what looks as though it may have been a protruding beam installed by a later tenant to support a pulley for raising goods to the upper floor. (Photo: Joy Wilson)

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 23

#onthisday, 23 June1873, the New #TurkishBaths, designed by local architect J B Everard for #Leicester Turkish Bath Co Ltd, opened in Friar Lane. 4 hot rooms (140-180°F), shampooing & cooling-rooms, plunge & showers. See: www.victorianturkishbath.org/0PIXMONTHLY/pix/2015/1502LeicFriar_w.htm 🗃️ #C19th

Late 19th or early 20th century photograph of the exterior of the baths with hanging lamp sign.

Late 19th or early 20th century photograph of part of the cooling-room, with desk for writing or reading, wicker arm-chairs, weighing machine, and closed double doors leading to the 'heating rooms'.

Colour photograph of part of the interior in the late 1990s, then being used as offices. Vaulted ceiling supported by columns and corbels. (Photo: Devra Wiseman)

Colour photograph one of the decorative corbels supporting the roof. (Photo: source unknown)

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 22

I suppose part of the slope is still there.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 22

#onthisday, 22 June 1861, John Hurman, Pharmaceutical Chemist, opened Oriental, or #TurkishBaths in #Bridgwater, Somerset, at York Buildings, The Cornhill. Last opening found 1865, though it may still have been open in 1868. Possibly too small a population as Weston-super-Mare had T baths. 🗃️ #C19th

Advertisement from the Western Gazette (19 March 1864) listing medical cases for which the bath was helpful. Main part proviudes details of Women's Days on Thursdays costing 2/6d from 7.00 am till 4.00 pm till 8.00 pm at 1/6d. (The Weston baths charged 1/- after 6 o'clock, and had two days for women.)

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk· Jun 19

#onthisday, 19 June 1834, was born Charles Spurgeon, preacher & evangelist, user of #TurkishBaths at Bartholomew's Bristol establishment & the Jermyn St Hammam, but not in favour of Turkish baths for the working class as they took too much time—not knowing that they could be quite simple. 🗃️ #C19th