Perth City Baths was a public swimming facility, located on the north shore of

Perth Water Perth Water is a section of the Swan River on the southern edge of the central business district of Perth, Western Australia. It is between the Causeway to the east, and Narrows Bridge to the west – a large wide but shallow section of rive ...

on the Swan River, in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Western Australia. During his 1881 sojourn in Perth, exhibition impresario, Jules Joubert, had recommended that the City consider a public bath. The baths were opened in 1885, with segregated bathing. The ornate

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

style building was opened on 5 March 1898 by the Mayor of Perth,

Alexander Forrest Alexander Forrest CMG (22 September 1849 – 20 June 1901) was an explorer and surveyor of Western Australia, and later also a member of parliament. As a government surveyor, Forrest explored many areas of remote Western Australia, particular ...

and was leased to the

Perth City Council Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth ...

. Costing £2600 with government support, the mostly

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...

building had four towers capped by

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fr ...

s and was designed by G.R. Johnson and built by C. Nelson. The baths were approached from The Esplanade on a jetty. A second set of baths opened at Crawley in February 1914 were the premier baths for the City. Debate about the location had included discussion of the possibility of being able to see into the baths from Kings Park, into the change rooms. The Perth baths were partially demolished in 1917, and completely removed by 1920.

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Picture Australia images
{{coord, -31.96, 115.857, display=title, format=dms Sports venues in Perth, Western Australia Swimming venues in Western Australia History of Perth, Western Australia Perth Water Bathing in Australia Demolished buildings and structures in Western Australia Buildings and structures demolished in 1917