It was designed by Ipswich born architectThomas Cotmen and built by local philanthropist and builder T. Parkington & Sons Builders. Inside the Victorianstone facade, brick building and slate and glass roof the pool measuring 25x7 yards with 5 lanes and had a number of communal baths. There were wooden changing cubicles with stairs going to a viewing are around the pool. The modern changing cubicles on each side of the pool are now present and a first-floor communal changing area where the old boiler used to be located. The build was funded by the Corporation of Ipswich along with a donation of the land plus £1200 from Felix Thornley Cobbold. It was originally opened by Ipswich Mayor Samuel Richard Anness.
Background
The poorly built homes for the families of hundreds of workers at the expanding Ipswich engineering companies had no bathrooms, or in many cases running water. The Baths and Washhouses Act 1846 was created to encourage the construction of indoor pools and Fore Street Baths was one of 600 built between 1880 and 1914 in Britain.