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Turkish baths in London

Northumberland Passage
Nevill's Turkish bath for Ladies

                                         

This is a single frame, printer-friendly page taken from

one of the linked parts of an article published on Malcolm Shifrin's website

Victorian Turkish Baths: their origin, development, and gradual decline

        

Original illustrated page with chronology, notes, and links


List of other Turkish baths in London

                           

 

        
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.
             

 
 


The original page includes footnotes,
and thumbnail pictures which can be enlarged.
All the enlarged images, listed and linked below, can also be printed.

Men's entrance to the Turkish baths in Northumberland Avenue

Women's entrance to the Turkish baths in Craven Passage

Above the entrance to the wome's baths in Craven Passage

One of two remaining pairs or eastern style windows

Plans of the Turkish baths in Northumberland Avenue

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Victorian Turkish Baths: their origin, development, and gradual decline

Comments and queries are most welcome and can be sent to:
malcolm@victorianturkishbath.org

The right of Malcolm Shifrin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988