Lido at Ynysangharad Park

Cadw's description

Location

Ynysyngharad Park is on the E side of the town centre and River Taff. The lido is on the W side of the park.

History

Erected in the early 1920s and opened in 1923 as part of Ynysangharad Park. The park had facilities for a variety of sports, including tennis, swimming, bowling and cricket. It was established in the grounds of Ynysangharad House as a war memorial park. The lido is now disused.

Exterior

Designed in a gentle Arts and Crafts style with restrained detailing. Comprising an outdoor pool surrounded by single-storey ranges of pebble-dashed walls painted white and pantile roofs with overhanging eaves and brick ridge stacks, roughly square in plan. The openings are now mainly blocked. The main entrance is on the W side. A central 5-bay entrance wing has a projecting gabled bay to the centre with battered side walls flanking the doorway, beneath a timber-panelled gable. Further R is a higher 4-bay wing with alternate windows and doorways, beyond which is a window set back at the end. On the L side of the entrance wing is a higher wing with a later lean-to and blocked window at the L end, beyond which are double gates.

At the NW corner is a projecting hipped-roof toilet block, while the remainder of the N side is a long open-fronted canopy on wooden posts, with benches inside. At the NE corner are flat-roofed additions, including a 3-window projection. The remainder of the E side is a plain low gabled wing continuous with the perimeter wall that has a rounded SE corner. On the S side is an open-fronted canopy similar to the N side.

The swimming pool is roughly rectangular in plan with a rounded projection on the E side.

Reason for designation

Listed, notwithstanding its present disuse, as one of the earliest and best-preserved outdoor lidos in S Wales.