York Historic Environment Record

The ‘New Yearsley Baths’ replaced an old bath in the River Foss downstream of Yearsley Bridge. It was built by Rowntree & Co. and designed by Fred Rowntree in 1908. Originally it would have cost around £3,000 and it was gifted by deed to the citizens of York on 4th May 1909. The original design held 226,890 gallons of water, measured 144 feet long by 51 feet wide, and was open-air. The facility was roofed over in 1964/5 and further modernised in 2007. The pool tank is relatively unaltered and the poolside cubicles retain many original features. The site has high communal value, providing a popular sports and leisure centre in the area.
York Civic Trust

NMR Information:

Yearsley New Baths. Opened 1909. Size 150ft x 50ft. Architect F Rowntree. Covered 1965. (1)

Yearsley Swimming Pool was built in 1908 as an outdoor pool by Rowntree and Company Ltd, it was designe by F Rowntree and gifted by deed to the citizens of the City of York on 4th May 1909. Since then, the pool has maintained a close relationship with The Rowntree factory, now Nestlé UK Ltd, which supplies steam to heat the pool which is piped under Haxby Road. In 1949 a water filtration plant was added at the rear of the building, and between 1964 and 1965 a roof was added to the pool area. In 2007, the pool underwent a major repair and refurbishment programme including replacing the roof and wall cladding, ventilation system and shower facilities, cleaning the tank, and re-tiling the pool area. Photographs show a building with a lower portion in red brick and a blue corrugated steel upper portion and pitched roof. At the south west corner is a brick two storey entrance with a tiled pyramidal roof, with a single storey brick section along the south elevation, containing shower facilities etc. The interior has a reception area with modern fittings and a rectangular pool with changing cubicles along each side. The roof has exposed steel trusses. The building was proposed for listing in 2011 but failed to meet the criteria for assessment for inclusion in the list for the following reasons:
Architectural Quality: Architecturally it was less ambitious than open pools of a similar date such at the Kings Meadow Swimming Pool, Reading (1902, Grade II) or the later lidos.
*Alteration: It has been extensively altered in the latter half of the 20th century, particularly by the installation of the roof, involving alterations to the original structures and the replacement of the tiles of the pool. There is little remaining of the original character of the pool, which was in any case a very unremarkable example of its type.
The pool has some local interest in its connection with the nearby Rowntree (now Nestlé) factory, but in common with the majority of the factory buildings it does not possess sufficient special interest in the national context to justify national designation. (2)

1 Liquid Assests: The lidos and open air swimming pools of Britain. 180 Smith, J.
2 UDS Non-Designation case