Balsall Heath Library and Public Baths

Image: © Richard Law Taken: 17 Oct 2019

A remarkable set of buildings in the middle of Balsall Heath town. The public baths (on the left here) were built in 1907, and the library (further right, just in front of the prominent clock tower) is a few years earlier in 1895. They attracted a Grade II* listing https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101076274-balsall-heath-library-and-balsall-heath-public-baths-sparkbrook-ward#.XgzJc0f7TIU & https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1076274 in 1982; the exterior and interior are described in great detail in that listing, but to summarise the Library:- "Flemish and Renaissance details combined with some Arts and Crafts motifs, all lavishly executed in buff terracotta contrasted with red brick walls... a rich, carefully balanced design..." and the baths:- "the same idiom as the library in colour, but with more lavish terracotta decoration to the symmetrical facade, and more conventionally Flemish-Jacobean detail" A great deal of the original interior fixtures and fittings remain in place, particularly in the baths, with many of the changing rooms entirely as they were first built and tiled, even down to the door furniture.

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