On a crisp winter night, a week or so into the New Year. The Urban Swimmer made his way to through the dark streets of Soho, ducked off the main shopping thoroughfare of Carnaby Street and passed through a discreet street entrance into the Marshall Street Baths.
It has been a good few years since TUS has visited this hallowed bathing pavilion. A few years ago the dreaded Westminster Council planned to close the baths citing structural problem with a building and pool that were originally built in the late 1920s. After much fuss was created (the Baths lie in the heart of media Soho) an eventual compromise was reached. The baths were re-developed with the now ever present gym, and a bunch of swanky apartments built on the side. The pool reopened last year and the was the first time TUS has visited. The place still has the look of a newly refurbished pool. At this point I'm supposed to say that the Architects have done a fine job of revamping the old Art-Deco structure...but honestly, they've bodged it. In an effort to fit too much into the space available everything outside the grandeur of the main pool feels cramped. Admittedly the Urban Swimmer visited the pool at the back of a post-rush hour period, when people's new year resolutions were probably at their most resolute; but space was at a premium in the changing rooms and the place was looking a little worse for ware.
Still esthetic quibbles aside, the pool is great. The central pool has a tremendous feeling of opulence about it. It's around 33 meters in length, lined in Greek and Italian marble with a huge cavernous ceiling that emphasises the grandeur of the place. It's also pretty deep, having one of those dip down deep areas at one end of the pool similar to the pool at Ironmongers Row in the City. TUS presumes this is a legacy of an age when diving was popular and common in public pools. Of course there is something of an irony here, Bath houses were essential built as a matter of public health in an age when hot running water and bathrooms as we know them today weren't common to most houses. Now the pool caters to affluent Soho-ites. Anyway the Urban Swimmer enjoyed some evening length in a moderately busy pool.
While TUS was doing some research (...alright typing words into Google), he came across the excellent Another Nickel In The Machine blog, which has some fascinating stuff about the history of Marshall Street. When I visited the pool I noticed a board detailing how the Baths were used for training American parachutist during WW2; but this goes into splendid details of naughty photography, gas decontamination, class baths and West-End castings. The most exciting for TUS was the news that one time Olympic swimmer, and the most famous screen Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller, swam there in 1948 while rehearsing for an Aqua Spectacular. The Urban Swimmer is now pondering how to word a request to the GLL that the pool be installed with appropriate vines for patrons to swing on...
"Ahahahahahahahahaha!"
