Plaque

Wash-house foundation stone

Erection date: 1892

Inscription

Westminster Public Baths and Wash-houses
The united parishes of St Margaret and St John the Evangelist adopted the Act of 1846 on the 8th Jany. 1847 and purchased this freehold site and erected the former building thereon. These baths and wash-houses were rebuilt AD 1892 upon an enlarged site.
Commissioners
Z. A. Berry
G. F. Danielli
James Gibson
H. O. Hamborg
W. L. Josephs
C. C. Piper
G. W. Tallents
F. J. Smith FRIBA - Architect
Stimpson & Co - Builders
J. C. F. Warrington Rogers - Clerk

This stone was laid by C. C. Piper

Seems likely that the F. J. Smith is the same architect as the one who built Caxton Hall with William Lee.

Andrew Behan has researched some of these names and points out that in the same year that these baths were rebuilt Commissioner Danielli was initiated into Commissioner Berry's Masonic Lodge, which had been co-founded by Commissioner Gibson, a few years previously.

Site: Wash-house foundation stone (1 memorial)

SW1, Great Smith Street, Westminster Archives Centre

The foundation stone is immediately to the right of the entrance.

The second floor bay window has some lovely relief work by Henry Poole showing swimmers - naked classical Greek young men. Ornamental Passions has good photos of these. Bas relief is not the ideal medium for showing bodies underwater.

In the 1990s the baths were replaced with the Westminster Archives Centre, a community centre and meeting space called the Abbey Centre. Historic England has an 1893 photograph.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Wash-house foundation stone

Subjects commemorated i

William Lee and F. J. Smith

Architects active in 1882.

Read More

Stimpson & Co

Builders of the 1892 Westminster Public Baths and Wash-houses.  

Read More

Z. A. Berry

A Commissioner for the 1892 Westminster Public Baths and Wash-houses.  Geni h...

Read More

G. F. Danielli

A Commissioner for the 1892 Westminster Public Baths and Wash-houses. Andrew...

Read More

James Gibson

A Commissioner for the 1892 Westminster Public Baths and Wash-houses. Andrew...

Read More

Show all 10

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Wash-house foundation stone

Created by i

Charles Christmas Piper

A Commissioner for the 1892 Westminster Public Baths and Wash-houses.  1889 c...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

David Lloyd George - SW18

David Lloyd George - SW18

SW18, Routh Road, 3

David Lloyd George, Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor, 1863 - 1945, Prime Minister, lived here. English Heritage

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
John Dimmer VC

John Dimmer VC

SE1, Jubilee Gardens

This plaque was unveiled exactly 100 years after the deeds that won Dimmer the VC.

War dead | WW1
2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Teddington Studios - John Sullivan

Teddington Studios - John Sullivan

TW11, Broom Road, Teddington Studios

We can't find the link from the QR code. The Sun reported the plaque's unveiling.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Ernest Dowson

Ernest Dowson

SE13, Belmont Grove, Dowson Court

Ernest Christopher Dowson, poet, 1867 - 1900. lived in a house which stood on this site. London Borough of Lewisham 

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Festing Road residents killed in WW1

Festing Road residents killed in WW1

SW15, Festing Road, Between 27 and 29

The first quotation is adapted from 'For the Fallen' by Laurence Binyon The second quotation is adapted from Wilfred Owen's 'Spring Offen...

War dead | WW1
4 subjects commemorated, 3 creators

Previously viewed

Marie Lloyd

Marie Lloyd

Music hall artiste. Born Matilda Alice Victoria Wood at 36 Plumber Street, Hoxton. She made her debut at the Eagle Tavern in 1884, using the name Bella Delmere. The following year, she changed her ...

Person, Music / songs, Seriously Famous, Theatre

3 memorials
West Middlesex Water Company

West Middlesex Water Company

A utility company which supplied water to parts of West London. It was established in premises on the banks of the River Thames at Hammersmith, the central part of which was designed by William Tie...

Group, Engineering, Food & Drink

2 memorials
D. H. Lawrence

D. H. Lawrence

Novelist and poet (also painter). Born Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. Died Vence, France. Novels include: Lady Chatterley's Lover, Sons and Lovers, Women in Love.

Person, Literature, Seriously Famous, France

2 memorials
Hay's Wharf

Hay's Wharf

The land between Tooley Street and the Thames has been occupied by wharves and warehouses since the middle ages. Hay's Wharf originated as a Tooley Street brew-house of which Alexander Hay took own...

Place, Commerce, Food & Drink

7 memorials
Royal Society of Arts Murals

Royal Society of Arts Murals

Painted by the artist James Barry. They show, 'Orpheus', 'A Grecian Harvest-Home', 'Crowning the Victors at Olympia', 'Commerce or the Triumph of the Thames', 'The Distribution of Premiums in the S...

Group, Art

1 memorial