In 1878 the City Improvement Trust sold land in Woodside to the Town Council for the erection of a wash-house. North Woodside Baths and Wash-house was designed by the City Architect John Carrick and built in Braid Square between 1880 and 1882.
The Baths contained two swimming pools (one for men and one for women) and twenty-seven private baths for men and seven for women. There were sixty-seven wash-house stalls in the "steamie". On Fridays a long queue would form as people waited for their weekly hot bath. However during the Christmas and New Year period there are stories of bathers queuing from 6am, with brothers and sisters taking it in turn to wait in line.
Reference: D-BW 1/1
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
bathing, Baths and Wash-houses Committee, city architects, City Improvement Trust, laundries, North Woodside Baths and Wash-house, public baths, public hygiene, steamies, swimming pools, wash-houses, washing