BATHING DE LUXE

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 December 1933, Page 9

BATHING DE LUXE

POPLAR’S WONDER BUILDING. LONDON, October 29. A remarkable municipal swimming bath, one of the finest in any London borough, is nearing completion in Poplar. The building, which will be opened in December, will cost £119,000. Poplar, which at 16/- is the highest rated London borough, is lucky to possess so admirable a bath. It already has eight public baths and .six washhouses. The exterior, amid the utilitarian surroundings of the East India Dockroad, is arresting. The building is in grey brick, picked out in russet, and rises in front in three turrets... The paving outside is in lively colours. Inside the scene is more Hollywood than Poplar. Seven 70ft span reinforced concrete arches, painted a light buff, sweep up to the roof. The sides of the building are “stepped” in a ■series of flats. There is no echospecial asbestos sound-absorbing tiles in the roof eliminate it. Spacious terraces of white rubber are on either side of the 100 ft long bath, which contains GOO gallons of filtered water changed every three hours. On the terraces G5O spectators may sit in chairs which are brought up in concealed electric lifts. Red railings inlaid with armourglass line the terraces. There is a lower terrace of blue, tiling. These tiles and those in the bath itself are of a special glazed type. No changing cubicles are visible. They are all subterranean, and the bathers, on emerging from their cubicles, pass through foot-baths and showers, so that no one un-prepared for swimming can gain access to the bath, surround. There is accommodation for 116 bathers, which can be addtied to on gala occasions by an ingenious system of sliding partitions. Conditioned air flows through modernistic gratings and escapes through out-takes in the roof. There is “strip” lighting of the latest kind. At one end is a fine stage, whilst the bath is readily convertible into a hall with specially sprung dance floor. The building contains also a smaller second-class bath, 86 slipper baths, a committee-room lined with Australian walnut, and a cinema projection room. Throughout the same high level of modern luxury and finished appointment is maintained.