Poplar Baths

 The implementation of the Baths and Wash-Houses Acts of 1846-7 in Poplar began in 1850, when the necessary requisition from the ratepayers was followed by the election of commissioners
They appointed Price Pritchard Baly as their architect and examined his bath and wash-house buildings in St Martin's-in-the-Fields , Goulston Square, Whitechapel, and Marshall Street, Westminster.
Acquisition of a site was delayed slightly until the commissioners, initially appointed by the Trustees acting under the 1813 Improvement Act, were elected by the members of the vestry as required by the Acts of 1846-7.
The site was at the north-eastern corner of Black Boy Field, 40 yards square, set slightly back from and at an angle to, East India Dock Road. It was bought from James Griffiths for £1279 3s 4d.
Baly's plans had been completed by the time that the site was secured.
Robert & Edward Curtis of Stratford were awarded the building contract on their tender of £6,542.
The boilers, pipes, drying furnaces and apparatus were supplied by Samuel & William Standing of Whitechapel. The building was opened on 17th July 1852, having cost £10,395
Baly's design used the whole of the site. On the East India Dock Road frontage was a two-storey central block of five bays, flanked by single-story ranges with a symmetrical facade.
The building was described as 'of Italian character' and was thought to be 'quite an ornament to the neighbourhood'.
Its bathing facilities were divided into two classes, with separate entrances, the first-class occupying the eastern side of the building.
In each of the side ranges there was a plunge bath 42ft long and 26ft wide, with the dressing boxes placed at the ends.
The slipper baths section, behind the entrance hall and staircase, contained 6 baths for women in each division, 12 in the men's first-class section and 24 in the second-class.
The steam and shower bath areas were behind the slipper baths and the laundry was placed at the rear of the building, occupying its entire frontage on Arthur Street.
The laundry contained 48 separate wooden washing tubs, drying equipment and ironing rooms.
The uncovered water tank, which was erected over the boiler house, had a capacity of 24,000 gallons. From the boiler house, the chimney-stack, which was encased in a tower, rose through the centre of the building.
An extensive overhaul of the building was needed by the mid-1880s.
The changed requirements of the users of the baths made it desirable that a larger swimming pool should be available, with provision for spectators.
This was achieved by reducing the area occupied by the laundry, thereby providing space for the creation of a new first-class pool by the extension of the second-class one to a length of 75ft.
The slipper bath section was also remodelled. One of the defects of Baly's design had been the inadequate ventilation of the wash-house area.
The roof had deteriorated and what was virtually a new roof, with a steeper pitch, was constructed and a light roof was erected over the water tank.
Two new Cornish boilers were installed at a cost of £948 6s 8d and the original ones were repaired and adapted as hot-water cisterns, erected on iron girders in the upper portion of the boiler house.
The opportunity was also taken to improve the drainage from the building.
These alterations were carried out in 1886 by John Walker to Messrs Clarksons' designs and cost £6,966.
It was soon apparent that the capacity of the laundry was insufficient and in 1898 some structural alterations were made in that part of the building Mechanical washing machines and other equipment were installed in 1923 in the area previously occupied by the second-class bath, which was filled in.
Because of the unsatisfactory condition of the whole building, and the need to reconstruct and enlarge the bathing facilities, the wash-house section of the Poplar baths was transferred to a new building which was completed in Sophia Street in 1931.
Defects in both the internal design and fittings and of the structure itself became increasingly apparent during the 1920s and it was eventually decided to erect a new building.

In 1929 Harley Heckford, the Borough Engineer and Surveyor, was appointed as the architect.
The site was enlarged by the acquisition of the adjoining properties, Nos 1-6 Grove Villas, No. 1 Bath Street and Nos 1-2 Arthur (now Lawless) Street.
Agreement was reached with the tenants of No. 172 East India Dock Road for their temporary accommodation elsewhere while the new building was being constructed.
The fabric of the new building was completed early in 1933, but, because of various delays in its fitting and furnishing, it was not opened until 20 January 1934.
The cost of the building, machinery and furnishings was, £124,421 and a further £5,542 had been expended on enlarging the site.
The contractors were A. E. Symes of Stratford East.
The steel frame of the structure is clad in concrete, the exterior being faced with grey bricks.
The decision to erect a symmetrical facade fronting only the main bath hall unbalanced the street frontage, so that the remainder of the building appears to be a later addition, when in fact the whole was a single design.
The large bath hall has a stepped roof with clerestory lights carried by seven elliptical arched ribs which were supported by horizontal beams spanning the length of the hall and held by tie beams at each end.
The architect was praised for the up-to-date internal designs and the decorations, while the exterior was described as 'restrainedly modern'.
The local reaction to the building's appearance was much more critical, however, and it was dubbed 'Poplar gaol'.
The two swimming pools were the predominant features of the new building. The larger one was 100ft long and 39½ ft wide, with 23 men's and 21 women's changing cubicles respectively on its eastern and western sides, and a further 14 'collapsible' ones under the platform at the southern end. The smaller one, which until 1966 was known as the second-class pool, was 64 ½ ft by 25ft, with 31 changing cubicles. On the first and second floors were 86 slipper baths; 44 of them for men and 42 for women, divided equally between the first- and second-class divisions. The basement contained a vapour suite, which included a plunge bath, a lounge with a buffet and a waiting room. Power was generated by two Lancashire boilers, each 28ft long with a diameter of 7 ½ ft, and the boiler room also contained the six filter chambers. The cold water tank had a capacity of 35,000 gallons and was placed on the flat roof of the slipper bath ranges.
Designated the East India Hall, the larger pool was floored over and used for other purposes during the winter months, when the smaller one remained in use. The hall was designed for conversion as a theatre with a seating capacity of 1,400, dance hall, cinema, exhibition room and sports hall, especially for boxing and wrestling programmes.
In 1935 a foam bath suite was installed in a part of the area occupied by the vapour suite. In 1937 Messrs Windrum, auctioneers and surveyors, vacated the office accommodation at No. 172, in the north-eastern corner of the building. The opportunity was taken to expand the foam baths into the basement area of that unit. The cost of conversion and equipment was, £2,784.
From 1938 until 1941 the office was used by the staff of the Borough's electricity undertaking, while the showrooms at Nos 208-212 East India Dock Road were being rebuilt.
It was then occupied by the Transport and General Workers Union and the Poplar Labour Party.
Wartime bomb damage forced the closure of the main bath hall, which remained unglazed for several years and was not reopened until 1947.
Other reinstatement of war damage was executed in the early 1950s.
In 1985 the foyer ceiling was decorated with three murals, executed by David Bratby, with the history and function of the baths as their theme.
In the first four years of operation the baths attracted an average of almost 273,000 users each year, in addition to those attending dances and other events in the hall during the winter season.
Post-war usage was somewhat less; between 1954 and 1959 they were used by an average of 225,700 bathers each year.
The numbers of dances also declined, reflecting a change in the type of demand for events in the East India Hall.
A wider range of sports facilities was provided; in 1956 cricket nets were installed and in the 1960s five-a-side football, indoor bowls and basketball were introduced.
The baths ceased to provide for these activities in 1980 when the seasonal conversion of the large pool into a hall was ended, as alternative indoor sports facilities had become available in other buildings.
Usage of the baths continued to decline. Between 1966 and 1970 there was an annual average of 209,324 bathers using all sections, but during the period 1980-4 the comparable figure was 106,431.
The numbers using the slipper baths also fell, to the extent that those on the second floor, which were in poor repair, were removed. and the space vacated was converted into a music studio, Which was completed in 1984.
The remainder of the warm baths section was closed in 1985 and in the following year the large pool was closed for structural repairs to the roof.
It was not reopened and, because of the costs of the necessary repairs to the building, the entire baths services were terminated in 1988.
By then it was apparent that the earlier unfavourable opinions of the building had changed markedly, at least in specialist architectural circles, with Piers Gough describing it as 'a stunning building with its Hollywood style interior and beautiful vaulted ceiling'.
The building subsequently was adapted as an industrial training centre, with financial support from the London Docklands Development Corporation.

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