Shipley Street, Swimming Baths

Public swimming baths and wash house 1907 (Lynn Pearson says 1886). Incorporated into the perimeter block of the Byker Wall Estate (Kendal Area) in the early 1970s. Red brick with ashlar dressings and slate pitched roofs with large glass skylights. Mostly two storeys with one single storey bay. The main south elevation is in three distinct sections. The 3 bays at the east end are formed by 3 cross gables with a row of cross windows at first floor and a row of blocked openings to the ground floor. Linked by a narrow single storey bay to the central section which contains segmental arched entrances for men and women with large windows to each side. The second bay projects at first floor level and has a cross window in a half dormer and mullioned windows to either side. The west side of the building is blind with 7 large recessed panels between brick pilasters ending in a tower. The rear north elevation is mostly plain with mullioned and cross windows, 7 large recessed panels and a tall tapering chimney. The east gable has a row of mullioned windows and a Byker stair attached, apparently to house the reception of the official opening of Byker by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1974. The interior is believed to have housed the original heating plant for the Byker estate. Old Shipley Baths are listed for the following reasons: they form an integral part of the original design concept whereby existing public buildings were incorporated into the new scheme; they form part of the important perimeter block which shelters the estate from traffic noise and creates a micro-climate with low-rise housing in its lee; they have strong group value with the adjacent group and form visual contrast {2}. Converted to a boiler house and community use during the Redevelopment. Now used for climbing. Only one of three pre-1914 swimming baths in Tyne and Wear (the others being Gibson Street and Wallsend). LISTED GRADE 2