Peebles Hydro Hotel
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Peebles Hydro Hotel by Anthony O'Neil as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Peebles Hydro Hotel
Image: © Anthony O'Neil Taken: 10 Sep 2019
The large, red-roofed building in the centre of the picture. has been a Peebles institution for over a century. Completed in 1880, the 'Peebles Hydropathic' capitalised on the European fashion for Spas and health treatments relating to the (alleged) restorative powers of local waters. This co-incided with the development of Scottish tourism via the burgeoning railway connections. Peebles could certainly offer state-of-the-art facilities and treatments. Advertisments of the time speak of 'Electric Light Baths, Ozone Apparatus, Faradisation, Galvanisation, Electric Massage, Rontgen Rays ...' Those attending the Hydro could anticipate relief from a variety of conditions, real or imaginary: rheumatism, gout, sciatica, neuralgia, nervous debility, sleeplessness, intestinal complaints ... even obesity. The original building, which succumbed to fire at the start of the 20th century, had been a turreted sandstone structure whereas its replacement (the one you see now) is French Renaissance style, redolent of the golf hotel at Turnberry by the same architect.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
55.652557
Longitude
-3.177062