Tessera

Victorian Turkish Baths

@victurk.bsky.social

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 http://www.victorianturkishbath.org

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 9h ago

The new Prime Minister is writing a "10-year plan" for the UK. The arts & culture MUST be part of it. I've signed @campaignforthearts.org's petition urging @andyburnham.bsky.social to revitalise the arts – to revitalise the whole nation 🌱 Join me: www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/10-year-plan/

Prime Minister – put the arts in your 10-year plan for the UK | Campaign for the Arts

Sign our petition urging the UK Government to build a country where the arts are available from childhood, accessible to all and thriving everywhere.

campaignforthearts.org

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 10h ago

#onthisday, 5 August 1878, the #TurkishBaths at 127 Stephen's Green West opened in #Dublin. Built by Henry J Jury next to his eponymous hotel, and close to the Royal College of Surgeons, it aimed to attract physicians & their patients to the general bathing public. Closed & demolished 1934. 🗃️ #C19th

Advertisement for the baths with opening times, charges, and a photograph of the central aisle of the cooling-room, lined on either side with four couches. Up three steps at the end to the hot rooms. (Photo courtesy Architecture of Dublin)

Typographic advertisement from the Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette (20 Mar 1880) for the baths (High Class) with hot rooms ranging from 120 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit, plunge pool and a variety of other baths.

Illustrated newspaper advertisement from the late 1920s. Drawing is of a man on a ladder fixing a poster promoting Turkish baths for 'Flu & colds, lumbago, gout, sciatica, etc'. (Image: courtesy Ken Finlay)

Advertisement from the Irish Times (20 Apr 1934) giving details of the demolition sale of the 'Entire contents' of the baths, some of which are listed.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · yesterday

#onthisday, 4 Aug 1859, Wm Potter, owner of England's 1st public #TurkishBaths, Broughton Lane, #Manchester, opened a 2nd in Clifford St www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/... Unknown if his image was an exaggeration till 2013 when ‪@oxfordarchaeology.bsky. social‬ found its remains. 🗃️ #C19th

The label, dated 28 July 1859, inserted into copies of Potter's booklet 'Roman or Turkish bath: its hygienic and curative properties' announcing the opening of the new baths on the site previously occupied by the Albert Club.

Accompanying artist's impression of how the baths would look when completed. A decorated circular dome covers the cooling-room with its chequered tiled floor, decorative fountain, and patterned tiles walls. Three arched openings lead to dressing cubicles and a horseshoe arched opening on the right leads to the hot rooms. Three bathers sit or recline on benches to the left and right, and an attendant brings a tray of refreshments to one of the bathers.

Until recently there was some suspicion that Potter's illustration had been exaggerating the style of his new bath—a habit not unknown among bath proprietors. But in 2013, Oxford Archaeology found the remains of the baths during their investigatory dig prior to the building of the foundations for Manchester University's new National Graphene Institute. On this aerial view, the baths have been identified by the added red arrow.

The photograph clearly shows the cooling-room floor tiles appearing in Potter's image. Ian Miller, responsible for the archaeological dig emailed me that, '…the preservation of the structural remains surpassed our expectation… we were aware of the importance of the baths largely due to your excellent website, and my field team have been clutching a print-out of Potter's plan throughout the duration of the excavation!'

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 2d ago

#onthisday, 3 August 1861, the Oriental #TurkishBaths, Mulberry Street, #Liverpool, opened. Edward Haughton was its 1st Director, manager & physician, & later edited the "Hydropathic Record". 🗃️ #C19th

Plan of the baths showing the location of the three hot rooms, the women's (smaller) Turkish baths, private Turkish baths, smoking room and various other small rooms. Under the title, it states that the baths were 'Built under the superintendence of Doctor Haughton'.

Photograph, taken in 2012, of the front of the Walker Art Gallery. The circular building partly shown on the left is the Picton Reference Library—the first I went to as a young teenager (special permission granted as I was under 16). (Photo: Rept0n1x via Wikimedia: CC ASA3)

The Picton Reference Library, with Walker Art Gallery on the right. Underneath the library was the Picton Hall, a theatre for local entertainment. As a child I was taken to a live performance by ITMA's Tommy Handley which was my first experience of any sort of theatre. It's That Man Again's Handley died in 1949, so I must have been about 10—an avid ITMA listener who knew, and even with today's failing memory, still remembers most of the catchphrases. So TTFN.
Photo: Alex Livet

Head and shoulders photograph of Dr Haughton.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 5d ago

#onthisday, 31 July 1890, the Prahran Arcade opened in #Melbourne with 30 shops, hotel, billiards rms & #TurkishBaths. These comprised 3 hot rooms at 105, 138, &160 deg F, plus a cooling-room, H & C baths & dressing rooms. There was also a מִקְוֶה (mikveh) for members of the Jewish community. 🗃️ #C19th

A large flag with stars and crescents and the words 'TURKISH & HOT & COLD BATHS' hangs from an arched and recessed balcony on the third floor of this Second Empire style building. With the exception of its mansard roof, the overall appearance of the arcade is still intact and forms a notable part of the Chapel Streetscape.

This advertisement for the baths appeared in the 'Jewish Herald' in July 1893 and July 1894. With the mikveh at its head, the ad gave the various opening times for men and women in the Turkish baths. Vapour and hot water baths were also available every day for both men and women. The owners were a Mr and Mrs Tolley.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 6d ago

Day 2 of the new BNA. Here's part of the new much clearer listing of found pages. The upper entry is one of the first newspaper items about what was later to become known as the Victorian Turkish bath—one where bathers cleansed themselves in hot dry air. victorianturkishbath.org

The upper entry is one of the first newspaper items about what was later to become known as the Victorian Turkish bath—one where bathers cleansed themselves in hot dry air. https://victorianturkishbath.org

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 6d ago

…and when you have viewed it, a small red tick appears. Easily visible and very helpful.

Victorian Turkish Baths@victurk.bsky.social · last wk.

So it's the first day of the new British Newspaper Archive (BNA). No doubt there will be things I discover from time to time I won't like, but my first (v general) search produced something I found helpful. As I moved my cursor over each article summary I was told if I hadn't seen it before—Helpful.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · last wk.

I'm not sure what this is all about. The Greek certainly reads 'Cannabis' and I can't understand any of the others, but the caption for the Hebrew is wrong and should be 'Koach bosem' translated by Google as 'named after'. So this seems to be a multilingual *sentence* with the Hebrew words קוח בשם

Maconha Vintage (e Dorgas)@maconhavintage.bsky.social · 2y ago

Cannabis em grego, persa, hebraico, chinês, sânscrito, acadiano, sumério e hieróglifo egípcio.

Dança erótica nas escolas @baratinhadefogao.bsky.social · 3w ago

você já se sentiu assim?

Nothings Monstered@nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social · 3w ago

Hedgehog etrog holder for Sukkoth, 1800s Coconut

A coconut carved into sort of a hedgehog. It doesn't have spikes on it but it has carved in low-relief some leaves and some letters in Hebrew. there's a hinge so this can open up and you can put the etrog. Etrog is a Citrus fruit used as part of the rite for Sukkoth. the Hedgehog has red shiny eyes, probably glass — this doesn't look like the sort of thing you give Ruby eyes to, although it looks like the legs that hold it up are silver, which is a usual material to make etrog boxes out of

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · last wk.

#onthisday, 26 July 1862, the London & Provincial Turkish Bath Co Ltd, founded by friends of David Urquhart, opened their exemplar #TurkishBaths at 76 Jermyn Street, London—Closed 1940. Many VTbs were based on its general plan, but the Paris Hammam—1876-1956—was virtually modelled on it. 🗃️ #C19th

Architect's presentation drawing of the proposed frigidarium in the London Hammam at 76 Jermyn Street, by draftsman George Daniel Stevenson. From "An eye for architecture: architectural and decorative drawings from the Collection of James Lamantia, 1984".

View of the hot room dome with details of its construction from "Manual of the Turkish bath: heat a mode of cure and a source of strength for men and animals, from the writings of Mr Urquhart" edited by Sir John Fife, 1865.

Photograph of the frigidarium with part of the plunge pool continuing below a plate glass covered entrance to the hot room. This image of the reconstructed room, showing the new upper floor added c.1908, is from a booklet published by the Hammam in the 1930s.

The Paris Hammam frigidarium with plunge pool similarly leading to the hot room. From "Le Hammam Bains Turco-Romains" from "Le Recueil de l'Architecture", c.1877.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · last wk.

Are you a sauna bather? If so please consider completing a survey being conducted by the British Sauna Society with two University of Roehampton grad interns. It's totally anon. & questions need not be answered. Details from Gabrielle Reason: hello@britishsaunasociety.org.uk More info in pix below.

Our mission is to make the benefits of sauna accessible to more people across the UK. Whether you’re a British Sauna Society member or simply a sauna enthusiast, we’d love to hear your views on how we get there.
Please take a few minutes to complete the survey and share your thoughts with us. Your feedback will help us better understand our community and shape future plans.
The survey will ask questions such as:
Your sauna habits and preferences
The role of sauna in community and socialising
Access and barriers to sauna
How sauna helps your health
What you would like to see improved
Any ideas or suggestions you’d like to share
The survey is anonymous. We’ll collect the data and analyse it, sharing the results and any insights later this year. Anyone can complete the survey, so make sure to share it in your own networks and sauna circles.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · last wk.

#onthisday, 26 July 1865, The 2nd Middlesex County Asylum, Colney Hatch, opened #TurkishBaths for its patients & staff, 4 yrs after the 1st in England—Haywards Heath. Dr Edgar Sheppard had consulted David Urquhart & visited the Cork Asylum bath. www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/... 🗃️ #C19th

The main entrance to the Colney Hatch Asylum, later renamed Friern Hospital, shown in the 1990s after its closure.

Plan of the Turkish bath at Colney Hatch when it opened. Entrance led into the dressing/cooling-room. Patients entered the hot room after passing through the washing area. To the left, on the way in, was a wash basin and a douche. Passing through again on the way out, patients were able to receive a shampoo in a room, again to the left. ('Opening of the Roman bath at Colney Hatch (Middlesex Asylum)' Journal of mental science (vol.11; 1865-6).

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · last wk.

#onthisday, 26 July 1890, Alfred Waterhouse's Hotel Metropole opened in #Brighton, its amazing #TurkishBaths considered more luxurious than its not-insignificant rival in West Street, by now 22 years old. Destroyed when new owners AVP built a swimming pool in its place in the early 1960s. 🗃️ #C19th

Cut of the exterior of the hotel in 1890, with promenade, sand and pier in the foreground.

Cut showing one end of the cooling-room with very high ceiling, circular arched openings, and decorated columns. Betowelled men stand around. (Illustrated London News)

Architect's presentation drawing (?) of the other end of the cooling-room, with similar high ceiling, circular arched openings, and decorated columns. In the centre is a section of the plunge pool, looking toward the covered opening into the first hot room. We can see through the glass-paned openings into the hot rooms beyond.

A photograph of part of the plunge pool shows, unusually, that neither the height of the room, nor its decorative features, have been exaggerated in the architect's drawing.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 2w ago

#onthisday, 24 July 1857, E F (Mapp & Lucia) Benson born.'…to clean the skin properly it is not sufficient to clean the mere surface of the skin. The pores have to be opened…But if anyone wants to see what happens when the pores are thoroughly opened & cleaned, let him take a Turkish bath…' 🗃️ #C19th

Photograph of Benson aged 27 (Wikipedia Commons)

"Daily Training" written by Benson with Eustace H Miles (an English real tennis player, author and restaurateur) is the source of the quote which, in full, reads "As a cleanser, however, the cold bath is, we regret to say, hopelessly incompetent. For to clean the skin properly it is not sufficient to clean the mere surface of the skin. The pores have to be opened and the dirt and waste products, ordinarily invisible to the eye, taken from them. Now cold water cannot do this, since one of its main effects is to close the pores. But if anyone wants to see what happens when the pores are thoroughly opened and cleaned, let him take a Turkish bath and be well rubbed afterwards." Rubbing was, in C19 usage, a synonym for the massage which was part of the Victorian Turkish bath shampooing process.

Rae Radford @raeradford.bsky.social · 2w ago

Absolutely. #BookSky

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 2w ago

#onthisday, 14 July 1897, the Duke of Cambridge opened the Royal #TurkishBaths in Crescent Road, #Harrogate, one of the most beautiful Victorian Turkish baths in England, and one of the very few which still remains open. You can find out more at www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/...

The refurbished cooling-room at the Harrogate Turkish baths, chosen by Historic England to be the jacket illustration for my book.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 2w ago

#onthisday, 22 July 1865, #Bradford Corporation opened Baths & Washhouses in Thornton Road. Their #TurkishBaths were the first in the UK to be planned and provided by a local authority and, if prescribed by a physician, were free. Closed in 1903, and replaced by the Central Baths in 1905. 🗃️ #C19th

Classified advertisement in the Bradford Observer (13 Jul 1865) detailing the opening hours (including early on Sunday morning). A full list of prices is included ranging from 6d to 2d (1st and 2nd class). The women's baths did not include Turkish baths but only [cabinet?] vapour baths. The description of the slipper baths emphasises that, 'on every occasion of use [they] will be filled with fresh water.'

The rear of the baths after closure and before eventual demolition.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 2w ago

He also donated Victorian Turkish baths to the people of Dunfermline, his Scottish home town in 1877, and a second larger set to replace them in 1905. For images and more info see victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/...

VICTORIAN TURKISH BATHS: Scotland: Dunfermline: Pilmuir Street |

victorianturkishbath.org

Rae Radford@raeradford.bsky.social · 2w ago

They should have made him a 'saint'. #BookSky

History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 2w ago

Built in 1859, the Upsall Blacksmith’s Forge is a wonderful piece of Victorian estate architecture. Built by the Turton family, its main feature is definitely the large stone entrance sculpted into a horseshoe. Above this arch, an inscription reads "Upsall Town 1859."

Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 3w ago

Warren Weaver, the mathematician & administrator who coined the term "molecular biology," was born #OnThisDay in 1894. Weaver was also a #LewisCarroll fan & owned many translations of the #Alice books. Today researchers can consult his collection @ransomcenter.bsky.social. #booksky #histSTM 📚📜🗃️

Lewis Caroll and L Simon. ʻAlisah be-erets ha-niflaʼot / L. Ḳarol ; ʻIvrit bi-yede L. Siman (Tel Aviv: Omanut, 1952). Harry Ransom Center. Lewis Carroll Collection of Warren Weaver. PR 4611 A7155 1952 WEA.

Lewis Caroll. Alice no país das maravilhas / original conto de Lewis Carroll ; tradução de Paulo Nasser ; ilustrações de Ramón Hespanha (Rio de Janeiro: Vecchi: 1964). Harry Ransom Center. Lewis Carroll collection of Warren Weaver. PR 4611 A7168 1964b WEA.

Lewis Carroll, Alice au pays des merveilles / d’apres Lewis Carroll (Paris: Nelson: 1932). Lewis Carroll collection of Warren Weaver. Harry Ransom Center. PR 4611 A714 1932b WEA

Lewis Carroll. Alice nel paese delle meraviglie / Lewis Carrol [sic] ; traduzione di Orio Vergani ; illustrazioni di H.Z. Tobel (Bologna: Edizioni C.E.L.I.: 1956). Harry Ransom Center. Lewis Carroll Collection of Warren Weaver. PR 4611 A716 1956 WEA.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 3w ago

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.

sjvn@sjvn.bsky.social · 3w ago

My first search engine.

Merisi Vienna @merisi-vienna.bsky.social · 3w ago

VIENNESE ESCAPES Entrance and Staircase Former Monastery built 1642-1700 Spital am Pyrn, Upper Austria Image © Merisi Vienna #EastCoastKin #ECK #Photography #PhotographersOfBlueSky #AdoorableThursday #ClassicMono #Monochrome

Entrance hall of a former monastery, built between 1642 and 1700,
a heavy wooden portal door is half open, from the hall a marble starcase leads upstairs.

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 3w ago

Look forward to reading it, and Yale books are often so beautifully produced.

VictorianLondon@victorianlondon.bsky.social · 3w ago

I don't really imagine anyone wants to pre-order my COVENT GARDEN book eight months ahead without even a cover image, but nonetheless it turns out that you can do so at the home of my books at Yale ... yalebooks.co.uk/author/lee-j...

Darren McLean @darrenmcleanuk.bsky.social · 3w ago

Bring back blow driers powerful enough to strip paint! Note that it's plugged into the light fitting, as lights were the big reason to have electricity installed, and everything else followed. 1915 It's great looking for construction history info and finding stuff like this

A woman having her hair for done. A powerful hairdryer if pushing all her hair forward

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 3w ago

A Delightful Book of Ours

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

Kate North @curatorkate.bsky.social · 3w ago

A fascinating section of the mid-14th century refectory, later used as a barn, at Denny Abbey in Cambridgeshire. Many phases of alteration, re-use, layers of different mortars and coatings…🤩 The great thing is, it has survived…most don’t!

Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 3w ago

#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.bsky.social · 3w ago

#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.'

LizdelaGarzaG @lizdelagarzag.bsky.social · 4w ago

Belgitude

A hand holds up a red card, Magritte-style. Below, French cursive text reads: "Ceci n'est pas un carton rouge."