Monday 13 October 2014

MELBOURNE CITY BATHS

City Baths, in Melbourne, Australia, is a historically and architecturally significant building. Located at 420 Swanston Street, it is an instantly recognisable Melbourne landmark.The Melbourne City Council opened the first Melbourne City Baths on 9 January 1860, which housed public baths. The objective was to stop people from bathing in the Yarra River, which by the 1850s had become quite polluted and the cause of an epidemic of typhoid fever which hit the city resulting in many deaths. However, people continued to swim and drink the water.

The Baths were leased to a private operator, but lack of maintenance resulted in such deterioration of the building that the Baths were closed in 1899. New baths designed by John James Clark were opened on 23 March 1904. Strict separation of men and women was maintained, right down to separate street entrances. Two classes of facilities were maintained, with second class baths in the basement and first class baths on the main floor. The popularity of the swimming pool increased with the introduction of mixed bathing in 1947.

The Baths now house a swimming pool, spa, sauna, squash courts and a gymnasium. To cater for all types of swimmers, the swimming pool is divided into four lanes: an aqua play lane, a medium lane, a fast lane and a slow lane (or 'aquatic education', when swimming lessons are given).

The first photo is as it came out of the camera. All the others are photoshopped from this original one.


This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Mandarin Orange Monday meme,
Nature Footsteps Inspiring Photography meme.




6 comments:

  1. That starts out as an impressive building, but what you have done with the image is really creative!! I am not sure if the third or fourth image is my favourite...

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  2. A wonderful contribution to MOM!

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  3. Handsome building and fun transformations♪ http://lauriekazmierczak.com/play-time/

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  4. nice job with the image. My favourite is the third one. :)

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  5. First, it is great you still have that beautiful building and it is still a baths etc. Its function hasn't really changed after all that time. Next, I just LOVE the way you transformed it into another form of art:) Ireally like both of those - the line and detail in the second last and the movement and distortions of the last. I can see you had a lot of fun doing it! Thanks, Nick, for being part of Mandarin Orange Monday:)

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  6. Nice to learn about the public baths.
    Love what you did with the last image.

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I love to hear from you, so please comment. I appreciate constructive criticism as it improves my skills as an amateur photographer.