| Turkish Baths, Lincoln Place | |
| Native Name Lang: | ga |
| Building Type: | Private baths |
| Classification: | Demolished |
| Address: | Lincoln Place, Dublin |
| Location Town: | Dublin |
| Location Country: | Ireland |
| Coordinates: | 53.342°N -6.2511°W |
| Start Date: | 1858 |
| Completion Date: | 1860 |
| Opened Date: | 2 February 1860 |
| Architect: | (Mr) Richard Barter |
| Developer: | Richard Barter (physician) |
| Other Designers: | James Hogan & Son (Plasterers) |
| Quantity Surveyor: | Dwyer (Clerk of works) |
| Main Contractor: | Michael Meade & Son |
| References: | [1] [2] |
The Victorian Turkish baths was a private bathing house at Lincoln Place, Dublin, Ireland opened on 2 February 1860.[3] [4]
It operated as a bathing complex until around 1900, when it was used for other commercial uses and offices before finally being demolished in 1970.
The baths opened on 2 February 1860 having been developed by Dr Richard Barter for the Turkish Bath Company of Dublin Limited, which was founded in 1859.[5]
Designed by the sculptor and architect Mr Richard Barter, Dr Barter's namesake,[6] [7] the building was well received by the Dublin Builder magazine, which praised Irish builders for executing the unusual design so well noting particularly the elaborate plaster decoration on the facade carried out by Hogan & Sons of nearby Great Brunswick Street. The general contractor was Michael Meade & Sons also later of nearby Great Brunswick Street but at that time of Westland Row and working on his first recorded project.[8]
On either side of central ticket office were two separate bathing areas for men and women. A very prominent feature was the 50 foot high ogee-shaped dome which sat above the company board room. The interior featured "oriental arches and coloured bricks" and the floors were fitted with patterned tiles from Mintons. At the rear of the building, there was a bathing area for animals including horses. The main frontage was 186 feet long.[9]
Initially very successful, the baths served 90 bathers a day for the first 4 years of operation.
There was an adjoining restaurant on the western corner of the building which was leased out to a succession of proprietors and was originally known as the Café de Paris, the first documented French restaurant in Dublin.
The bath attendants wore red dressing gowns and Turkish slippers,[10] and served coffee and a chibouk to patrons relaxing after their bath.[11]
Dr Barter left the business by 1867, and later opened a baths known as The Hammam on Sackville Street on 17 March 1869.[12] The baths at Lincoln Place were subsequently refurbished in 1867, and again in 1875 in two phases. The works in 1875 saw the installation of modern showers and a plunge bath. With competition from The Hammam and new baths on St Stephen's Green, the baths went into liquidation in 1880 and were offered for sale by tender. They were purchased by the owners of the St Stephen's Green baths, Millar and Jury, and were modernised further.
John Curran is recorded as manager of the baths in Bray and later at Lincoln Place prior to his death in 1886.[13]
After a series of events including a court case for negligence, Millar and Jury sold the baths in 1900.
After its closure and over the course of the next 70 years the building was used for a number of commercial purposes before it was ultimately demolished in 1970.
The baths are mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses, where Leopold Bloom refers to them as "the mosque of the baths".[14]