Spring Hill Baths
| Spring Hill Baths | |
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Spring Hill Baths, 2004
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| Location | 14 Torrington Street, Spring Hill, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 27°27′36″S 153°01′17″E / 27.4599°S 153.0213°ECoordinates: 27°27′36″S 153°01′17″E / 27.4599°S 153.0213°E |
| Design period | 1870s–1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | 1886–1913 |
| Built for | Brisbane Town Council |
| Architect | Thomas Kirk |
| Owner | Brisbane City Council |
| Official name: Spring Hill Baths, City Baths, Arthur Street, Municipal Baths, Spring Hill | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 21 October 1992 |
| Reference no. | 600313 |
| Significant period | 1886, 1902, 1913 (fabric) 1886-ongoing (social) |
| Significant components | swimming pool, changing rooms/dressing shed, residential accommodation – staff quarters |
| Builders | William M Park |
 Location of Spring Hill Baths in Queensland
Location of Spring Hill Baths in Queensland
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Spring Hill Baths is a heritage-listed swimming pool at 14 Torrington Street, Spring Hill, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Thomas Kirk and built from 1886 to 1913 by William M Park. It is also known as Arthur Street City Baths and Municipal Baths at Spring Hill. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
Constructed for the Town of Brisbane in 1886 at a cost of £2,526, the Spring Hill Municipal Baths provided the city with its first inground public baths. They replaced in popularity the older floating baths in the Brisbane River, and provided an important hygiene/sanitation facility in Spring Hill.
They were erected during the 1880s expansion of Brisbane municipal works, which included construction of the second of the Spring Hill Reservoirs and an extensive drainage system in Spring Hollow.
Enoggera contractor William McCallum Park built the structure to a design by city engineer Thomas Kirk, completing the work in August 1886. On the evening of 9 December 1886 and amid great ceremony, the baths were opened by the Mayor of Brisbane, James Hipwood, who took the first plunge. The Brisbane Courier reported:
His Worship the Mayor appeared in regulation bathing costume at 8 p.m., and was loudly cheered as he stepped briskly along the springboard and took a "header" into the bath. This was the opening ceremony as far as the formal business of the evening was concerned. The Mayor was followed by Alderman Watson, Mr. C. E. Birkbeck (Ithaca Divisional Board) and the representatives of the Musgrave and Brisbane Amateur Swimming Clubs. The civic dignitaries disported themselves with grace and vigour equal to that of the most lissome of the clubmen, and the mayor and Alderman Watson treated the spectators to a few spurts up and down the bath at a pace which was quite surprising.
One of the principal reasons for establishing the Arthur Street (now Torrington Street) bath was its location above the Spring Hollow (Water Street) drain, installed in 1884, the waste water from the baths providing a daily cleanse. River water from Petrie Bight was pumped to a small reservoir at the top end of Albert Street, then gravity fed down Spring Hill to the Hollow, where it was stored in holding tanks (now boarded over) at the far end of the baths. Each evening the pool was drained and every morning the water was replenished in a process lasting several hours. This system of flushing the Spring Hill drain was employed for three-quarters of a century.
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