Constantine’s Baths, 23 Oxford Street, Manchester

NEW BATHS OXFORD STREET MANCHESTER — The block of buildings for the new baths recently erected for Mr. Nathaniel Barker, in Oxford-street and St. James‘s Street, Manchester, covers an area of 365 square yards, and has cost £6,500, exclusive of stoves, boilers, porcelain baths, and fittings. This building has been erected on the site of the old premises, well known as “Mr. Constantine's Baths," which had been in existence many years. The new baths comprise - Gentlemen's first-class Turkish bath on the ground floor; gentleman's second-class Turkish bath on the first floor ; gentle men's large Russian bath on the second floor; ladies’ Turkish and Russian baths on the second floor at the front of the building; four private Russian baths; seven ordinary vapour baths; two vapour boxes; seven ordinary warm baths; two rooms for sulphur and chemical baths. The heating stoves, boilers, kitchen, washhouse, laundry, etc., are in the basement. The principal entrance is in Oxford-street, and there is also an entrance in St. James'-street, which opens into the vestibule. Near the principal entrance are the office, waiting-room and ladies‘ staircase. A corridor from the vestibule leads to the main staircase, from which the gentleman's Turkish and other baths are reached on the several floors. The first-class Turkish bath is entered at the foot of the principal stairs, and comprises a cooling-room, 34 feet by 19 feet. 6 inches, and 12 ft. high, two shampooing-rooms, each 9 feet square, plunge-bath, 10 feet 6 inches by 9 feet, and two hot-rooms, one 24 feet 6 inches by 12 feet 6 inches, the other 12 feet 6 inches by 6 feet. The floors are constructed of steel joists and concrete, the surface being finished in Venetian mosaic, with ornamental borders. The ceilings of the cooling and hot rooms are of opal glass, divided into panels with ribs of teak-wood. The windows in the cooling-room are arranged in three heights, so that any section may be opened for ventilation as required. The windows in the hot rooms have double glass, the inner sheets being filled in with lead lights of an ornamental pattern and coloured glass. The walls of the cooling, hot, and shampooing-rooms are lined with enamelled red and yellow glazed bricks, arranged in bands, with a chocolate-coloured dado. There is an elaborate screen at the entrance to the cooling-room, in American oak, and of Arabian character in design. The several openings in the brick-walls have Moorish arches, with glazed brick bands in yellow and red. The second-class Turkish bath is over the first-class, and with rooms of the same size, but there is no plunge-bath, and the ceiling is finished in cement decorated. The Russian bath is over the second-class Turkish bath. ln the roof is a spacious room with three cisterns of galvanised iron, each holding 1,000 gallons of water. The hot and cold air-flues are lined with white enamelled bricks, and are sufficiently large for a man to get up and down, by a ladder or bars built in, for cleaning purposes. The cold air is taken from the roof-level, and is filtered as it descends to the heating-stoves in the basement. The building is well-lighted and fitted up with every convenience in the way of lavatories, closets, etc. There is a lift from the kitchen to the several floors. The windows are made reversible throughout, and are so constructed that they can be cleaned by the attendant of each department from the inside of the room. In the staircase, passages, and other parts of the building where glazed bricks have not been used, the walls, arches, and ceilings have been finished in cement and decorated. The elevation, simple in character. is of red Carlisle stone on the ground floor, with red Ruabon bricks and red stone dressings to the windows above. Any attempt at outline has been restricted by the rights of the sur rounding properties as to lights, etc. The baths have been fitted up with all modern appliances in the way of plumbers’ work, stoves for heating the air, steam boiler, hot-water boiler, drying stove, etc. A steam boiler has been made to order for the supply of vapour; this and a copper circulating boiler for heating water are fixed in the basement. The ventilating fines descend to chambers under the floor in the basement, which in turn are connected to the main shaft—the tall chimney. It is impossible for vitiated air to stagnate in these baths, and whatever the outside temperature, the inside supply, both as to quantity and temperature, will be perfectly under control. The work has been carried out by the contractors, Messrs. Neill & Sons, of Manchester; Messrs. I. & H. Patteson supplied the mosaic work; the Midland Reversible Window Company, of Middlesbrough, the windows; and Messrs. Sutherland & Co., Limited, have done the decorating. The whole of the work has been done under the direct superintendence of the architects, Messrs. Barker & Ellis, of Manchester. [Builder 19 October 1895 page 281]