Despite the fact that the facade has separate entrances for men and women, the swimmers are all men - perhaps it was felt that naked men and women should not mix even in allegorical carving. But surely it would have been OK to mix the sexes because they are clearly Classical Greeks and so any impropriety would have the sanction of antiquity.The central panel has swimmers demonstrating the breast stroke and the front crawl against a glorious sunrise (it must be a sunrise: a sunset would have been decadent).
The baths themselves were demolished in the 1990s to make way for the Westminster Archives Centre.
4 comments:
Another fascinating discovery. Thank you.
I remember swimming here when I was a child back in the 70's. The changing cubicles went around the perimeter of the pool which had nothing to damp the waves - it always felt like you were in a tropical storm but then I was only a toddler.
I regularly swam here in the sixties - on the mens' days, obviously. It was the only place i found where I could mess about with flippers and a snorkel, and really swim without danger of being bombed or harassed by kids.
So interesting to see this. My great, great, great grandparents lived in this street, and it is lovely to be able to see things around London from here in Australia.
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