Leeds International Pool

[wiggleyleeds]

yippy lets hope its a nice sunny day

[yayight]

When is the International Swimming Pool getting demolished?

Prince William House and Elizabeth house which are on Queen Street and are facing little queen street where the International pool is, are due to get demolished after May this year.

Theres going to a massive area of land for a development.

[Phill_dvsn]

Originally Posted by wiggleyleeds

yippy lets hope its a nice sunny day

Yeah lets hope so mate!

The pool was supposed to come down next month.. I've just had the guy from L.C.C tell me it will still be up for a good few months yet.. I'm going round it again for some more stuff.

[EssexDan86]

Originally Posted by yayight

When is the International Swimming Pool getting demolished?

Prince William House and Elizabeth house which are on Queen Street and are facing little queen street where the International pool is, are due to get demolished after May this year.

Theres going to a massive area of land for a development.

Prince William House won't be part of any new redevelopment. It's not being demolished so much as completely gutted and refurbished.

http://www.barwood.co.uk/property-details.aspx?pID=66

[rich-leeds]

Originally Posted by paulmat

But moving forwards doesn't have to mean knocking it down and building a tall block of flats.

This could be really great if it had a top notch refurbishment. I think the idea of an exhibition, or conference centre that tomd mentioned would be really excellent.

For what it's worth, I'll be really sad to see this genuinely iconic building go too. The Civic Trust led a campaign now almost 7 years ago to refurbish the building - just shows how long the city has been running the facility down for...

Anyway, you can see their proposals here: www.leedscivictrust.org.uk/cool.htm

Needless to say, their pleas fell on deaf ears.

I'm enjoying the irony of this resurgence of interest in the building and the ongoing delays sorting out the development agreement. We should mount a campaign for emergency listing!! As the new pool is now delivered already, we have nothing to lose...

[Stefan88]

Great photos of the interior of the pool and also a very intresting read on the blog. It must be very weird being in such a large space on your own that would normally have been very busy.

[Phill_dvsn]

Originally Posted by Stefan88

Great photos of the interior of the pool and also a very intresting read on the blog. It must be very weird being in such a large space on your own that would normally have been very busy.

Thanks Stefan.
Yes it was an eerie feel in the place. It's always a bit surreal in these places of leisure that brought fun and entertainment to the general public. I think the most amazing closed building i've been in is, the A.B.C cinema in Wakefield, It closed in 1997. they simply locked the door and all the fittings and everything is still intact, The building is crashing down and falling apart all around. . The Mary Celeste of all cinemas. The pictures are here if you'd like a look
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...ogID=339802502

[Smoggie_Si]

Originally Posted by rich-leeds

I'm enjoying the irony of this resurgence of interest in the building and the ongoing delays sorting out the development agreement. We should mount a campaign for emergency listing!! As the new pool is now delivered already, we have nothing to lose...

Yeah, I went to see the installation in the pool on Thursday and got some pictures. It was fascinating overhearing so many people talking about what an interesting building the International Pool is. It seemed that most people were taking photos of the pool and particularly the diving boards rather than the funnel! It really seems that people are starting to appreciate it!

[di Livio]

Originally Posted by Phill_dvsn

Thanks Stefan.
Yes it was an eerie feel in the place. It's always a bit surreal in these places of leisure that brought fun and entertainment to the general public. I think the most amazing closed building i've been in is, the A.B.C cinema in Wakefield, It closed in 1997. they simply locked the door and all the fittings and everything is still intact, The building is crashing down and falling apart all around. . The Mary Celeste of all cinemas. The pictures are here if you'd like a look
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...ogID=339802502

The poignancy of place, eh?

Thanks for the link to those fantastic photos.

I'm a real sucker for the residual traces of postwar lesiure experiences. i'm sure the Odeon Merrion Centre could become some kind of heritage cinema experience in the future. Although there's a strong chance the owners, not seeing the value or potential of what they have, will rip everything out and turn it into another Oceana.

[Phill_dvsn]

Originally Posted by di Livio

The poignancy of place, eh?

Thanks for the link to those fantastic photos.

I'm a real sucker for the residual traces of postwar lesiure experiences. i'm sure the Odeon Merrion Centre could become some kind of heritage cinema experience in the future. Although there's a strong chance the owners, not seeing the value or potential of what they have, will rip everything out and turn it into another Oceana.

Mate they secretly ripped it all out on the quiet last year. They knew it should be opened up to let folk see inside for one last chance, They knew it was a unique time capsule of 1970's decor,fixtures & fittings. They knew it would cause a bit of a stink if people knew they were throwing heritage like that on a landfill site. They initially gave me the thumbs up to go in & document it before they did. The bigger boss over ruled it & said no.. There's no documentation of the place at all now. Well done Town Centre Securities. Shame on them!

[LeedsLad]

Originally Posted by di Livio

I'm a real sucker for the residual traces of postwar lesiure experiences.

There's a chat up line if ever I heard one!! (me too by the way)

[Val Verde]

Originally Posted by Phill_dvsn

Mate they secretly ripped it all out on the quiet last year. They knew it should be opened up to let folk see inside for one last chance, They knew it was a unique time capsule of 1970's decor,fixtures & fittings. They knew it would cause a bit of a stink if people knew they were throwing heritage like that on a landfill site. They initially gave me the thumbs up to go in & document it before they did. The bigger boss over ruled it & said no.. There's no documentation of the place at all now. Well done Town Centre Securities. Shame on them!

Thats a huge shame to loose what could have potentially be a unique space. So how did you know it has been stripped down, is it just a plain concrete shell now and when was it done? So I presume we could see the Woolworths retail unit enlarged for a bigger store perhaps (either for Woolies or much more likely someone else)? Could you spill the beans to the YEP perhaps (anonymously of course)?

[Phill_dvsn]

Originally Posted by Val Verde

Thats a huge shame to loose what could have potentially be a unique space. So how did you know it has been stripped down, is it just a plain concrete shell now and when was it done? So I presume we could see the Woolworths retail unit enlarged for a bigger store perhaps (either for Woolies or much more likely someone else)? Could you spill the beans to the YEP perhaps (anonymously of course)?

It's pretty widely known it's been stripped out amongst the urbex fraternity. For obvious reasons no one wants to be named, I've spoken with a guy who has seen it all stripped out 'as part of his job' so to speak. Sad really. Yes it's just a concrete shell now. I doubt it will ever open as anything. What can you do with a sloping floor apart from a cinema?

[LeedsLad]

So the actual concrete floor is sloping, rather than it being a false floor?...

[Phill_dvsn]

Originally Posted by LeedsLad

So the actual concrete floor is sloping, rather than it being a false floor?...

Well i have read a few places it is a concrete floor. There is this rather grainy pic in there from 4/5 years ago. It seems to look like a false brick built up floor. Hard to tell. The balcony above will all be concrete.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rikj/399206885/

[daveylad2]

It's quite strange that it was kept like a time capsule for all those years. The fact that it has finally all bitten the dust is quite sad, but what purpose was it ever going to serve all these years later?

[di Livio]

Originally Posted by LeedsLad

There's a chat up line if ever I heard one!!

I've mumbled worse than that.

[di Livio]

Originally Posted by Phill_dvsn

Mate they secretly ripped it all out on the quiet last year. They knew it should be opened up to let folk see inside for one last chance, They knew it was a unique time capsule of 1970's decor,fixtures & fittings. They knew it would cause a bit of a stink if people knew they were throwing heritage like that on a landfill site. They initially gave me the thumbs up to go in & document it before they did. The bigger boss over ruled it & said no.. There's no documentation of the place at all now. Well done Town Centre Securities. Shame on them!

Shame on them indeed. What a disgrace.
Some of the fixtures and fittings could at least have been salvaged to decorate some bar or club.
When '60s and '70s architecture becomes fashionable in say ten years time, this will be seen as an act of architectural vandalism to rank alongside the worst excesses of that era. The Ziffs can join Andrew Carter in the SSC doghouse.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/rikj/41719364/in/set-72157594550990196

[harryd]

Nice cultural day on Sat'day - went to the Strangely Familiar exhibition & the International Pool installation.

The installation:


Pretty busy too:




Most people I think will prob be more interested in the tatty retro of the pool:




And surely this has happened since it was shut/drained:



The majestic diving board:

[ahmedd]

I was there on saturday at about 1.00pm, took some photos on my phone very similar to yours.

I'd recommend everyone to visit this building before it bites the dust or gets condemned due to falling to bits. As mentioned earlier the building is going downhill rapidly, the installation seem to have had water damage on it and there were leaks in the roof.

Lets hope whatever replaces this is as iconic, Spiracle should do this IF it sees the light o' day.