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The Adelaide City Baths, owned by the Corporation of the City of Adelaide, stood on King William Road in a prominent position beside Parliament House and opposite Government House. The first baths opened in 1861, and Turkish Baths were added a few years later. In 1883 the baths underwent major refurbishment, with a new two-storey Tarlee stone building fronting the street, designed by the city surveyor in a strange mixture of Jacobean and Italianate styles. At their opening, Mayor Edward Glandfield said he had been ‘told the building was in the Elizabethan style and added to the beauties of King William Street, but he did not altogether agree with that’. For 78 years the baths were operated by a family dynasty, leased from their inception by Thomas Bastard, and then from 1883 to 1939 by his son Charles. A second refurbishment in 1940 saw the baths fitted with an Olympic-sized pool and a high diving platform, while given a bland Modernist façade. The City Baths were an important social institution for over a century, particularly when the inner city supported a large residential population. Less used after the post-Second World War population shift to the suburbs and changed recreation patterns, the baths were demolished in 1969 to make way for the Adelaide Festival Centre. The Festival Plaza now occupies their site.

By Peter Bell

This is a revised version of an entry first published in The Wakefield companion to South Australian history edited by Wilfrid Prest, Kerrie Round and Carol Fort (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2001). Revised by the author. Uploaded 25 June 2014.

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Adelaide City Baths

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Image: A two-storey brick building with ornate facade is located at the corner of two dirt roads. A lamppost and tram tracks are visible in the foreground
Adelaide City Baths with their original building façade, c. 1919
Courtesy of/Photographer:Francis Gabriel

Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B 2099, Public Domain

Image: A two-storey building with plain façade at the intersection of two streets. 1940s-era auto-mobiles and pedestrians are on the street in front of the building
The Adelaide City Baths with revised building façade, 21 May 1941
Courtesy of/Photographer:State Library of South Australia

Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B 10492, Public Domain

Image: A two-storey building with plain façade at the intersection of two streets. 1960s-era auto-mobiles are driving on the street in front of, and adjacent to, the building
Adelaide City Baths shortly before their demolition, 12 December 1969
Courtesy of/Photographer:State Library of South Australia

Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B 19368, Public Domain

Non-Swimming Events

Images
Image: A small sail boat on exhibit in an indoor pool
Lifeboat ‘Storm King’ on display in the Adelaide City Baths, 1892.

Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B 39562, Public Domain

Image: A large, empty swimming pool in a vast open building with a roof. A wrestling ring is positioned within the empty pool
The interior of the Adelaide City Baths, 1938. The men's pool is empty and arranged as a wrestling stadium
Courtesy of/Photographer:News and Mail photographer

Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B 10319, Public Domain

Image: A wrestler jumps on the back of his competitor while another man acting as referee looks on
Two men compete in a wrestling match at the Adelaide City Baths, 1938. Another man acting as referee looks on
Courtesy of/Photographer:Advertiser Newspapers Ltd

Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B 7798/654, Public Domain

Swimming

Images
Image: A crowd of men and women in late Victorian attire sit on benches around a large swimming pool
A crowd of onlookers gathered to watch a swimming contest at the Adelaide City Baths, c. 1896
Courtesy of/Photographer:Ernest Gall

Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B 7597, Public Domain

Image: A crowd of people in early twentieth century attire are gathered at the side of a large swimming pool
Spectators await the beginning of a swimming event at the Adelaide City Baths, 1920

Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: PRG 280 1/19/68, Public Domain

Image: A crowd of people in early twentieth century attire are gathered at the side of a large swimming pool
Spectators and swimming competitors at the Adelaide City Baths, c. 1924

Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: PRG 280 1/45/195, Public Domain

Image: A young woman in bathing attire sits on a diving board above a large swimming pool
Joan Yvonne Fenton at the Olympic pool within the Adelaide City Baths, 1940

Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia, SLSA: B 7798/551, Public Domain

Image: large number of children in and around swimming pool

Image courtesy State Records of South Australia, GRG7/7/0/62

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