Photograph of Portobello indoor swimming pool

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

52273

Title

Photograph of Portobello indoor swimming pool

Description

Black and white photograph of Portobello swimming baths showing several swimmers and a man in trunks standing on the end of the diving board with his back to the camera. Spectators at window above pool.

Date

1967

Accession number

HH5307/9/90

Copyright

The City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries

Until 1979, Portobello had two swimming baths. One was a state of the art Art Deco outdoor pool complex with swooping diving boards and heated by the neighbouring power station. The other, shown here, was a Victorian building which at one time boasted not only a seawater pool, but a Turkish bath, reading room, smoking room and gym.

Edinburgh has a six Victorian swimming pools. They were built for health and relaxation, but also as somewhere to get cleaned. Not every house had running water, and so a public bath was an important part of family hygiene.

Portobello's indoor baths were built in the 1890s in a typical Victorian style with balconies, tiling and elegant columns. Many of these features were covered up during a refurbishment in the 1960s which gave the baths a more 'modern' look. Fashions, however, change, and the baths were recently renovated and the original Victorian aspect restored.

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