The Bathhouse Children's Community Centre, 76 Shacklewell Lane, E8

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The Bathhouse Children’s Community Centre is an attractive former public washing baths that used to serve the community of Shacklewell from the early 1930s up until the 1980s. Constructed of red brick with Portland stone dressings the lines and features of this single-storey building are classical in tone and reminiscent of other civic buildings in Hackney. The central bay has PUBLIC: WASHING: BATHS incised above the two main entrances: one of for WOMEN and the other for MEN. The main entrance is emphasised with deep reveals and a projecting porch with large brackets. The central bay is flanked by two identical wings, which are decorated with open pediments on either side. The windows are metal casements. Each side would have originally housed the washing facilities for men and women. A cornerstone is also located in the central bay between the two main doors. It reads: METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF HACKNEY. THIS STONE WAS LAID BY COUNCILLOR CHARLES F WILLIAMSON, MAYOR. THURSDAY THE 9TH DAY OF JULY 1931. COUNCILLOR HERBERT LAYLAND? CHAIRMAN OF THE BATHS COMMITTEE. The building follows the shallow bend of the road and is set behind some railings, which appear to be original (although a central section is missing). Since 2000 the building has been used as a nursery, after school club and holiday play-scheme.

Modernist/Classical

Interwar (1914-1938)

public baths

From 1922 the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney’s Baths Committee had commissioned public baths in Wardle Street (1922), Gayhurst Road (1928), Shacklewell Lane (1931) Englefield Road (1932) and Eastway (1935). These public baths were small by the standards of many other London districts and did not possess a swimming pool, but had communal slipper baths and washhouses for the working classes who lived in these areas. In London washhouses performed an important role in the improvement of public health. The former Shacklewell Public Washing Baths are reminiscent of Goodhart-Rendel’s Eton Manor Boys’ Club (1912) in Hackney Wick; and Truelove’s Stoke Newington Town Hall (1935-37). Despite its diminutive size its architecture is ambitious - reflecting the considerable civic pride of the time. At Shacklewell, we have a distinctive building of historic importance that punches architecturally above its weight.