Tepid Baths

The Tepid Baths are historical indoor public pools in Auckland, New Zealand. Built in 1914 on the previous site of a small drydock, it quickly met great public approval, with 30,000 visitors in the first two months. In mid-2012, the baths re-opened following a major rebuild.HistoryThe Tepid Baths was originally leased from the Auckland Harbour Board, and contain two separate pools, a "male" (25 m, 6 lanes) and "female" (18 m, 4 lane). The "male" pool was the largest in New Zealand at the time. The pools were heated with hot water from the nearby tramways power plant, the system being considered an engineering masterpiece of its time.The pools were not only extensively used for both recreational and competitive swimming, but also for some other uses - in one event, a pentecostal minister baptised a hundred new faithful in the pools (in about 1931). Two sports champions were Custodians at the Tepid Baths, swimmer Malcolm Champion (who frequently swam across the harbour to his North Shore home) and runner Billy Savidan.In 1974, the salt water pools (previously fed from the Waitemata Harbour) were transformed into fresh water pools, primarily for maintenance reasons. The facility was refurbished in 1986 and again after the YMCA received the management lease in 1997 from Auckland City Council. Renovations included new sauna and steam rooms, and a gym on the upper level (YMCA club members only). Nowadays, a large part of the Tepid Baths' customers are people working in the Auckland CBD who swim here before or after work.