Blue Baths 1933

 

The Blue Baths is in Rotorua and was opened in 1933 with the aim for the building to promote the town for it's geothermal qualities. When the town was founded in the 1880s the goal became to show people how tourism could grow. The building above shows it's affinity with the art deco era with it's curves and rounded windows. 

The pools inside offered mixed men and women bathing together facilities which would've been scandalous back then. When we were there a few years ago it was closed sadly as I would've liked to have taken photos of the interior. The water in the pools is apparently taken directly from the geothermal piping in Rotorua so I could imagine it being quite hot.

Tea rooms above the blue baths February 1965, G. Riethmaier, National Publicity Studios

Photo from 1936, Auckland Weekly News, Kura Heritage Collections Online.

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