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At
one time or another the Nevill family owned nine Turkish baths, all of
them in
London. Of these, four were in reality twin establishments, built
next to each other in pairs. The larger one was for (Gentle)men;
the smaller one was for
women (Ladies).
Each of
baths in Northumberland Avenue was, from the bathers' point of view, quite
separate with its own entrance: that for women was round
the corner in Northumberland (now Craven) Passage .
There
seems to have been no external indication, visible from Northumberland
Avenue, that there was a Turkish bath delightfully decorated in Moorish
style within the building. But planning regulations were probably less
restrictive in the narrow pedestrian passageway from which access to the
women's baths was gained.
Here it
is still possible to see the horseshoe arches surmounting the (now
blocked) doorway and the pairs of windows on either side. Also to be
seen are the panels of decorative tiling below the upper floor windows.
In his book on the Turkish
bath, published
a few years after these baths were opened, Robert Owen Allsop remarked
that, 'as at the old Pompeian Balneæ, the
[women's] set are ungallantly cramped into a very
small space.'
But
although they were considerably smaller, the ladies'
baths were, in
general, decorated in the same way as the men's
baths. The enlarged
plans show the relative sizes more clearly, the women's areas being left
an untinted white.
As in
the men's baths, there was a pay desk in the entrance lobby. The
facilities comprised two relaxation
(frigidarium) areas, a warm area (tepidarium), two hot rooms, and a
plunge pool. The women's pool was about 20 ft long. The main difference,
apart from size, was that the women's baths had a chiropodist's salon,
while the men had a smoking room, refreshment bar, and hairdressing
salon.
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