The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | Derbyshire

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath)

Heritage Statement

January 2018

Clerk Bank House Clerk Bank LEEK Staffordshire ST13 5HE

tel: 01538 373 477 fax: 01538 386 503 [email protected] www.ctdarchitects.co.uk

architects | historic building advisors project managers | landscape and urban designers

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

CONTENTS

1.0 History & Statement of Significance 3

2.0 Conservation Philosophy 10

3.0 Bibliography & References 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx ______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

Page 2 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

1.0 HISTORY & STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ______

History and The Natural Mineral Baths are sandwiched between two fine Listed buildings; the Old Background: Hall Hotel (Grade II*) on the west side and The Crescent (Grade I) on the east (fig.1), and are located on the site of earlier Medieval and Roman structures established some 2000 years ago to allow the taking of the high quality thermal spring waters that naturally rise through the limestone formations in this part of Buxton. Its special qualities have long been recognised and exploited for recreational, religious or curative purposes, which was first recorded in 1460 by William Worcester.

Visits to ‘take the waters’ by royalty and nobility in the 16th-century helped to establish the town, which in turn encouraged the Duke of Devonshire’s development of The Crescent and the Georgian spa town of Buxton becoming one of Europe’s leading spas and a rival to Bath.

Set in the context of a group of historic and highly significant spa buildings (fig.1) - including the Old Hall Hotel, The Crescent, The Pump Room, the Thermal Baths, The Square, Buxton Opera House and the Pavilion Gardens - the Natural Mineral Baths were re-built in 1712 by John Barker, and enlarged in 1750. In 1851-53 Henry Currey refurbished them to create new hydropathic facilities on the site of the earlier baths offering hot, cold and tepid baths.

Fig.1 Watercolour painting of attributed to W. Cowen, c. 1850. Looking from the southwest down The Slopes, with the Natural Mineral Baths dwarfed and sandwiched between the Old Hall Hotel to the left, and The Crescent (source: https://www.bcd-urbex.com/buxton-crescent-hotel-and-spa-baths-uk/)

Page 3 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

The ‘New‘ Natural Mineral Baths were re-modelled in 1924 and the surviving internal neo- classical/Art Deco style ceramic wall tiling dates from this period (figs.5 & 6). They were opened by Sir Humphrey Rollerston, President of the Royal College of Physicians. The Baths as found today date from their 1937 re-construction as public swimming pools, which operated until their closure in 1972 following the provision of a new swimming pool in the nearby Pavilion Gardens. In 1986 a third of the ground floor of the building was used as the Tourist Information Centre until this closed in approx. 2011. The Natural Mineral Baths were Listed Grade II in 1951.

Fig.2 The remodelled 1850’s Natural Mineral Baths, c.1980’s prior to the creation of the access doorway into the Buxton Mineral Water Company ‘Spring Bath’ pump room through the left-hand arched window (source: www.picturethepast.org.uk - photographer: D D Brumhead)

The ‘Great Bath’, ‘Gentleman’s No.1 Bath’, or ‘Spring Bath’ as the most westerly of the baths has been known, subsequently became the source for commercial extraction by the Buxton Mineral Water Company in the 1980’s, after the earlier closure of the baths to the public (fig.2). The natural Gritstone-lined, constantly fed, thermal Spring Bath was initially protected by a transparent acrylic sheet rigid roof with the water being piped through the cellar of the Natural Mineral Baths to the mineral water bottling plant then located on Station Road. This cover was later replaced with the modern stainless steel and acrylic pyramidal hood found today (figs.3 & 4) and the water is now piped some 2.5 miles to Nestlé Waters state-of-the-art bottling plant at Waterswallows Lane on the northeast outskirts of the town which opened in 2013.

Page 4 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

Figs.3-6 The interior of the Nestlé Waters pump room showing the modern stainless steel hood over the Spring Bath (top left), the pumps and pipework (top right), and the 1920’s Art Deco style wall tiling (source: ctd architects)

Page 5 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

Fig.7 The Natural Mineral Baths, December 2015 showing the Nestlé Waters pump room access doorway through the left-hand arched opening (source: https://jackdeighton.co.uk/2015/12/31/buxton/)

The uninterrupted supply and consistency of quality of the mineral water is essential as Buxton Natural Mineral Water is the UK’s biggest bottled mineral water producer, and Nestlé Waters, the worlds number one bottled water company with 95 production sites in 34 countries, offering 49 unique brands of bottled water.

As part of its continual drive to ensure this quality and consistency is maintained, Nestlé Waters wish to improve the hygienic conditions of their ‘pump room’ and to further protect the ‘Spring Bath’ and the natural source of Buxton Natural Mineral Water from any risk of contamination, by constructing a new modern hygienic ‘room-within-a-room’ to sit inside the existing 1920’s Art Deco style tiled walls and painted plaster vaulted ceiling (fig.8).

The new ‘internal room’ will be constructed from a proprietary flame-proof, food-safe, self-supporting HCFC-free insulated wall and ceiling panels, held within a self-supporting galvanised steel channel system, with food-safe acrylic inspection panels/windows and doors. The walls and ceiling panels will butt-up to the existing historic tiled wall and ceiling finish, which will be first protected with a proprietary corrugated plastic damage protection sheet. The existing modern ceramic floor tiles will be re-finished. There will be no mechanical fixings penetrating through into the historic finishes or fabric.

Page 6 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

Fig.8 Indicative layout plan showing proposed new ‘internal room’ and location of ‘break’ tank (source: MHPSS Ltd.)

In addition to the new ‘internal room’, a new galvanised steel staircase and internal lobby doorway is proposed at the east end from the existing ground level entrance lobby; and new stainless steel ‘break tank’ is to be installed within an existing alcove on the north side of the ‘pump room’. This will involve the removal of a modern timber panelled door and frame and a narrow modern painted brick infill wall which abuts the original tiled pier to the ceiling vault (fig.9).

Page 7 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

Fig.9 The modern door, frame and painted brick wall which will be removed to accommodate the new break tank with the alcove. The existing 1920’s Art Deco style wall tiling abutting the infill wall will be retain as existing (source: ctd architects)

Whilst admittedly the materials proposed for the construction of the new ‘internal room’ are not traditional, natural, or in-keeping with original aesthetic of the 1920’s re- modelled and tiled interior of the ‘Spring Bath’, or ‘Great Bath’ room, they are being applied, and the construction has been designed, so that they can be removed in the future, should the need or desire arises, without any damage to the historic fabric and finishes.

The visual ‘harm’ created by concealing the existing 1920’s tiled interior can be in part mitigated by the taking of a set of good quality record photographs which can be held with the Buxton Crescent & Thermal Spa Trust and/or County Records Office.

Page 8 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

Historic Significance: The Natural Mineral Baths is an important historic building with significant heritage value through historic association, aesthetic value and social/cultural value1, recognised both locally and nationally. The 1920’s Art Deco tiled Nestlé Waters pump room and ‘Spring Bath’ are an essential element of the Natural Mineral Baths and the key source of the commercially bottled Buxton Natural Mineral Water .

Set in the context of the Old Hall Hotel, The Crescent, The Pump Room, the Thermal Baths, The Square, Buxton Opera House and the Pavilion Gardens; and the idyllic natural amphitheatre setting below ‘The Slopes’ and the wider Peak District hills beyond (fig.1); the Natural Mineral Baths contribute to the group value and significance2 of Buxton as a romantic 18th and 19th-century spa town. It is this relationship and history that gives the Natural Mineral Baths ‘significance’ in conservation terms.

Summary: Whilst the architectural style of the Natural Mineral Baths as a building have changed many times throughout history, the current external Victorian neo-classical style – a symmetrical, five-arched, rusticated Gritstone Ashlar façade - survives with little change despite the 1937 remodelling. Internally the decorative Art Deco style wall tiled character of the 1924 remodelling survives in the main bath rooms, but the tiles in the Ladies Natural Bath and The Gentelman’s Bath No.2 are in poor condition. The tiled walls in the Nestlé pump room are in very good condition and are well maintained. The 18th or 19th- century Gritsone lined Spring Bath survives in good condition as the source for the bottling plant.

The proposed alterations and construction of a new ‘internal room’ within the interior of the Nestlé Waters pump room have been designed from a purely functional and utilitarian perspective, and whilst not traditional or in-keeping with the historic aesthetic of the 1920’s re-modelled and tiled interior of the ‘Great (Spring) Bath’ room, they are fully reversible, and if necessary can be removed in the future, without any damage to the historic fabric and finishes, in line with good conservation practice.

The Nestlé Waters pump room, Spring Bath and the Natural Mineral Baths as a whole, are an important heritage asset3 of national and local historic and architectural significance.

The proposed new internal room and enclosure of the Spring Bath will help sustain the continued hygienic extraction of Buxton Natural Mineral Water for public consumption, and by doing so uphold its valuable contribution to the current renaissance of Buxton as a leading spa town and popular visitor destination.

1 English Heritage Conservation Principles, 2008, p.27 2 NPPF, p.56 3 NPPF, p.52

Page 9 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

2.0 CONSERVATION PHILOSOPHY ______

Historic (formerly English Heritage) define conservation as ‘the process of managing change to a significant place in its setting, in ways that will best sustain its heritage values, while recognising opportunities to reveal or reinforce these values for present and future generations’4

'Conservation' in essence involves handing on to future generations what we value today. The process of conservation of a building must not stand in the way of change, but help to manage it in a positive and proactive way. The value, or 'significance' that we place on historic buildings distinguishes how important they are, and how they should be treated now and by future generations.5

Philosophy: The general conservation aim of the proposed internal alterations and construction of a new ‘internal room’ within the Nestlé Waters pump room is to ensure that the existing surviving historic fabric and decorative Art Deco style wall tiles are protected and preserved for future generations by ensuring the new works are fully reversible, should this be required or desired in years to come.

Contributing to this aim the conservation principles to be adopted are;

• to secure the preservation of architectural and historic building fabric;

• to maintain the historic and architectural integrity of the site and buildings;

• to preserve the character and appearance of the historic fabric and its setting.

The conservation of a building is always best served by its original intended use and it is desirable to sustain the significance of heritage assets by putting them to viable uses consistent with their conservation6. The need to ensure the continued high quality supply of Buxton Natural Mineral Water to the Nestlé Waters bottling plant is both essential and desirable to help towards sustaining the heritage of Buxton and its current renaissance as a leading spa town.

The proposed internal access alterations and creation of a new ‘internal room’ to enclose the ‘Spring Bath’ is therefore considered reasonable and desirable to help sustain the historical association and social/cultural value of the source of Buxton Natural Mineral Water.

4 English Heritage Conservation Principles, 2008, p.71 5 After Clarke, p.12 6 After NPPF, p.126

Page 10 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

Policies: In line with Historic England (formerly English Heritage) conservation policies and guidance the principle, and specification and design, of the proposed internal alterations and construction of a new ‘internal room’ have evolved from a policy of practical and 'informed conservation' - that is from an understanding and assessment of the history and importance of the Natural Mineral Baths to establish its heritage values and ‘significance’ as a ‘heritage asset’ in conservation terms.

The impact of the proposed alterations have in principal been considered so that they preserve and protect, rather than detrimentally alter, the character and significance of the structure by the fitting of new work to existing/old finishes & details, so that destruction of original fabric is minimised, and so that it is fully reversible, if necessary.

The visual loss of the character of the 1920’s decorative wall tiles will in part be mitigated by the photographic recording of the walls prior to construction of the new ‘internal room.

The ‘preservation’ of the existing historic fabric does not equate to a presumption against any intervention whatsoever, but it is the impact of the intervention on the integrity of the existing historic character of the ‘host’ building that is fundamental.

Under this proposal for the ‘Great Bath’, the historic integrity of the Natural Mineral Baths as a whole remains intact, and the historic and cultural value of the continued commercial supply of Buxton Natural Mineral Water for the enjoyment of millions of people is protected and sustained.

Page 11 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx

______

The ‘New’ Natural Mineral Baths | The Crescent | BUXTON Heritage Statement ______

Proposed Internal Alterations to Nestlé Waters Pool Room (formerly The Great Bath) ______

3.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCE ______

Clarke, Kate; Informed Conservation; London; English Heritage; 2003

Department for Communities and Local Government; National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF); March 2012

Department for Communities and Local Government, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (dcms) & English Heritage; PPS 5 Planning for the Historic Environment : Historic Environment Planning Practice Guide; London; English Heritage; March 2010

Durbin, Lesley; Conservation Report: Interior Tiling – The Natural Baths, Buxton; The Jackfield Conservation Studio Ltd.; Ironbidge; November 2004

High Peak Borough Council/Derbyshire County Council; Buxton Crescent & Spa : Conservation Plan; 2000

Historic England (formerly English Heritage); Conservation Principles; Policies and Guidance for the Sustainable Management of the Historic Environment; April 2008

Pritchard, Huw; Buxton Crescent and Spa : The Crescent, Buxton, Derbyshire : Evaluation Report No. 2009/55; York Archaeological Trust; York; 2009

Statutory List Description entry for Natural Mineral Baths; [ONLINE] Available at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1257914

Page 12 of 12

NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2017:1778 Nestle Waters Crescent Pump Room BUXTON:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1778 FINAL HS.docx