Champagne Bath facts for kids
The Champagne Bath, officially called the Champagne Fitness Centre, is a special historic building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It's located at 321 King Edward Avenue in an area known as Lower Town. This building was once a very important public swimming pool and fitness center for the community.
What is the Champagne Bath?
The Champagne Bath was built a long time ago, starting in 1921 and finishing in 1924. It was designed by an architect named W.E. Noffke. The building has a unique look, mixing styles like Spanish Colonial Revival and Prairie Style. It was named after Ottawa's mayor at the time, Napoléon Champagne. This pool was Ottawa's very first city-owned swimming pool and one of the first indoor pools in all of Canada!
Why was it built?
Back when the Champagne Bath was built, many people in the neighborhood lived in homes without their own bathtubs. So, this public bath was created to help people stay clean and healthy. It was a place where everyone could come to wash and swim. For a while, the building also had a library inside, offering books to the community.
A Special Pool
What made the Champagne Bath even more special was that it used salt water instead of fresh water. This was a big deal because it meant the pool didn't need to be cleaned with chlorine, which can sometimes irritate eyes or skin. Soon after the Champagne Bath opened, another similar pool called the Plant Bath was built on the other side of town.
Changes Over Time
For many years, the Champagne Bath was very popular. When it first opened, there were separate entrances and swimming times for boys and girls until 1967. As the building got older, fewer people used it. In the 1980s, the city thought about closing it down. But people in the community really wanted to keep it open! So, instead of closing, the building got a big makeover that cost about two million dollars. The newly improved Champagne Fitness Centre reopened in 1990, ready for a new generation to enjoy.
