The Dalston Junction Turkish Baths were opened shortly after this image was published, either towards the end of January, or at the beginning of February 1882.
Designed by J Hatchard Smith, architect, to provide Turkish and slipper baths for men and women, the building has separate doors for each—men entering on the left and women on the right. Apart from the lack of a plunge pool for women, the facilities provided for each were the same. But on the days when the women's baths were closed and not being used by a private party, the two cooling-rooms could be combined into a much larger one for use by the men.
The hot rooms, shampooing room and plunge bath were in the basement, the cooling-rooms and slipper baths on the ground floor, and a smoking room, laundry, and caretaker's accommodation were on the mezzanine floor.
The building was faced with red Suffolk bricks, yellow clay-and-chalk bricks known as malms, and the caps, cornices, and cupola moulded in cement.
© Malcolm Shifrin, 1991-2023