Victorian Turkish Baths Picture of the Month for April 2005
The last Turkish baths to be built by Dr Barter
at his Hydropathic Establishment
at St Ann's Hill, near Blarney, Co Cork
This detail from a contemporary stereo card (see below) shows the exterior of the last of several Turkish baths to be built at St Ann's Hydropathic Establishment by Dr Richard Barter to the designs of his architect namesake (Mr Richard Barter). The baths were opened on Wednesday 13 July 1870, less than three months before the doctor died.
The Irish Builder of 15 July 1870 wrote:
The new building is situate
upon a terrace below the main building, and for style of architecture and
beauty excels anything of the kind ever seen in this country. The baths
occupy a space of 180 feet by 36 feet, and consist of two complete sets,
one for ladies, and the other for gentlemen. The structure is
divided transversely, a cupola surmounting the building upon the outside,
at the point of division.
The unequal sizes of the trimmed photographs on the stereo card, and the glued-on label on the back, seem to indicate that this was an unpublished card produced, perhaps in limited numbers, by a local photographer, or even an amateur.
This item is from the collection of the Victorian Turkish Baths Project
Victorian Turkish Baths: their origin, development, and gradual decline
Comments and queries are most welcome and can be sent to:
malcolm@victorianturkishbath.org
The right of Malcolm Shifrin to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted by him
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© Malcolm Shifrin, 1991-2023