FYI - Leeds International Pool

[munki]

New art installation installed at the old International Pool, for a while, before the whole thing gets pulled down.    

[Rich87]

might sound harsh but i think its about time it got pulled down, its an ugly building to be fair! And even inside is a bit 60's-ish! Correct me if wrong but didn't someone die in that pool jumping from a diving board???

[munki]

I'm not a great fan of the building myself, but the idea of pulling it down still worries me a bit.If you look at the architectural history of the city (or any city), it seems like every generation of planners always seems to automatically hate the work of the few generations immediately before them... In the middle of the 20th Century, people absolutely hated Victorian Architecture as being excessive / gothic / messy... They would much rather pull it down & replace it with glorious visions of the Concrete Future such as City House, West Riding House... Part of me thinks that we should have some rule saying that You Can't Pull Down A Building Until It Is At Least 100 Years Old, so that our planners get a chance to have some historical perspective.Will people in 2108 bemoan the fact that we, as planners for the city, destroyed so many beautiful examples of mid-20th century architecture, as we bemoan the fact that the 1950s saw the destruction of so many Victorian gems? Maybe. I don't know...

[cnosni]

munki wrote: I'm not a great fan of the building myself, but the idea of pulling it down still worries me a bit.If you look at the architectural history of the city (or any city), it seems like every generation of planners always seems to automatically hate the work of the few generations immediately before them... In the middle of the 20th Century, people absolutely hated Victorian Architecture as being excessive / gothic / messy... They would much rather pull it down & replace it with glorious visions of the Concrete Future such as City House, West Riding House... Part of me thinks that we should have some rule saying that You Can't Pull Down A Building Until It Is At Least 100 Years Old, so that our planners get a chance to have some historical perspective.Will people in 2108 bemoan the fact that we, as planners for the city, destroyed so many beautiful examples of mid-20th century architecture, as we bemoan the fact that the 1950s saw the destruction of so many Victorian gems? Maybe. I don't know... Ive come to like a lot more in the last couple of years,its certainly distinctive but its also ugly in places (all the concrete)Ive made few postings about the pool in the past and i think that future generations may not thank us for pulling it down.The trouble with it is that it was always surrounded by the Poulson disgrace and also that it was not what it should really have been ,though contrary to popular myth it was never intended to be,that is an Olympic standard swimming pool.As a consequence it was shunned by successive councils and the public in general.Imagine that, a distinctive international standard sporting facility in our city instead of in Sheffield or Manchester?Oh no,it ended up being unloved and unwanted,but say what you like,i cant think of any other building in the British Isles that looks like this,and provoke such debates,can anyone else?

[gbdlufc]

Rich87 wrote: might sound harsh but i think its about time it got pulled down, its an ugly building to be fair! And even inside is a bit 60's-ish! Correct me if wrong but didn't someone die in that pool jumping from a diving board??? Hi, your right it does sound harsh, I will certainly have a tear in my eye when that place gets pulled down. I spent most of my teenage life every evening diving there with a few of my mates. I think his name was Brian the manager who was a lovely man and in the 80's their was Sharon the life guard (babe). Also around that time was when Adrian Moorhouse was training with Leeds Central swimming club with Terry Dennison as coach both were gentlemen and always acknowledged with a nod and a smile.We also made total clowns of our selfs playing tig with a group of massive blokes Ian and Brian and a few others, Brian we named a dive after him 'the Brian dive' how original, from the 10 meter platform or top board as most know it you would leave in a belly flop position and just before impact you would go into a pike position to save yourself........... fun at the time!

[gbdlufc]

I also remember the 'top board' closed for considerable time due to it been a little unsafe, so we had to make do with the 7.5 meter for a couple of years until they put some reinforcing steel work below, great when it opened, I think I was the first off it after the repair work was finished.We all know Poulson was the architect and made some fundimental errors, now as far as I know it was not just that the pool was a touch short, the ceiling was also wrong because when you do the backstroke the ceiling design is not in line with the lanes you swim in therefore difficult to keep straight, and the 7.5 meter and the 5 meter boards are the wrong way around. Does anyone know any more?Great place, great memories and a great bloody loss!RIP LIP.

[cnosni]

gbdlufc wrote: I also remember the 'top board' closed for considerable time due to it been a little unsafe, so we had to make do with the 7.5 meter for a couple of years until they put some reinforcing steel work below, great when it opened, I think I was the first off it after the repair work was finished.We all know Poulson was the architect and made some fundimental errors, now as far as I know it was not just that the pool was a touch short, the ceiling was also wrong because when you do the backstroke the ceiling design is not in line with the lanes you swim in therefore difficult to keep straight, and the 7.5 meter and the 5 meter boards are the wrong way around. Does anyone know any more?Great place, great memories and a great bloody loss!RIP LIP. B**ger me,no wonder i kept banging my head against the nearest lass whilst doing the backstroke.Ooops, i think that turned into an innuendo