IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Hersham Walk, MANCHESTER, M9 4BD

The tall chimney belonging to the Grade II listed former public baths and laundry at Harpurhey dating from 1909-10 (Historic England List entry Number: 1270790 https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1270790 ). This elevated view is from the second floor of North Manchester Library.

The chimney to the former baths and laundry complex

The chimney from the former public swimming baths and laundry is certainly tall, towering over the more modern buildings surrounding it (see Image]). When you stand directly under it and look up, it looks absolutely enormous!

The southern extent of the 'Parkmount Road' development in Harpurhey.

The former facility on Rochdale Road

Looking across Rochdale Road towards the former swimming baths. Harpurhey Baths are one of numerous municipal baths constructed throughout the country around the turn of the century, following various social reforms, and public health acts. The baths complexes were principally for social amenity and hygiene, rather than primarily for recreation. The Harpurhey Baths were designed by Henry Price, the same architect who designed the Grade II* listed Victoria Baths. Built in 1909 (Image]), they were designed to fit an already occupied site, which contained a school and a pub as well as terraced houses and shops lining Rochdale Road. The baths provided an extremely important social facility in the area and has been associated with community use and gathering, for over 100 years. The male baths closed in 2001, after serious defects were discovered. Since the closure, the baths building has been incorporated in the neighbouring North Manchester Sixth Form Sixth Form College building. The college has transformed the building into an award-winning exhibition space for students and the community. Harpurhey Baths and Laundry was designated as a Grade II listed building in 1994 while still in use (Historic England List entry Number: 1270790 https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1270790 ). The Way We Were: Harpurhey — A century in the lives of the real 'people like us' http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/nostalgia/way-were-harpurhey--century-1720317 includes some old pictures of the baths, including interior views, in the slideshow.

Inscription set into the front wall of Image] CITY OF MANCHESTER ALDERMAN EDWARD HOLT JP LORD MAYOR THIS STONE WAS LAID BY COUNCILLOR WILLIAM HOLDEN JP CHAIRMAN OF THE BATHS & WASH-HOUSES COMMITTEE MAY 11th 1909

The splendid Harpurhey Baths, resplendent in red brick and orange and buff terracotta and looking like something out of Hansel and Gretel (the colour has not been enhanced). By Henry Price (City Architect), 1909. Grade II listed. It closed in 2001 and now appears to be an exhibition space for the adjacent Manchester College.