Petition appeals to bring back the Blackrock baths, closed since 1986

Fiona Frawley

visualisation of the new blackrock baths, with dark stone steps and pool surrounds, people swimming

The petition has garnered over 500 signatures.

Anyone who’s gotten the DART from the Bray direction into town has probably seen the Blackrock diving tower hundreds of times – a once beloved amenity now sadly rusted and out of use. The tower was once used by many to dive into the Blackrock Baths, a seaside pool enjoyed by Dubliners from the 1830s up until 1986 when it closed for good. The Blackrock Baths hosted swimming and diving events, and in the peak of summer welcomed up to 3,000 visitors per day.

The Baths in 1958, image via Irish Photo Archive

The diving tower at the Blackrock Baths, image via builtdublin.com

The Baths enjoyed their last summer season in 1986, remaining closed in 1987 as a casualty of the recession and cutbacks. In the wake of the reopening of the popular Clontarf Baths to the public, there’s a proposal and accompanying petition to restore the Blackrock contingent to its former glory, with concept and visualisation from Magnaparte architecture.

Image via Magnaparte

Magnaparte’s proposal reads:

Our intent is for a new baths design that is in symbiosis with the ocean. Looking at what went wrong with the old Blackrock baths, the main thing is that the structure was at war with the sea – it used a sluice gate to fill and drain the baths, which got easily damaged and was expensive to repair, which was the main reason for the bath’s closure.

Their proposed design is inspired by the naturally formed Pollock holes in Kilkee, Co.Clare – a 320 million old rock formation resulting in natural, calm baths that are created when the tide fills the holes. The Pollock holes are made of black sandstone, which acts as thermal mass and heats up the water that filled the holes. Magnaparte are proposing a man-made rock formation for Blackrock, made of marine grade concrete with a natural black pigment – they say that the black colour will help amplify concrete’s natural thermal properties and heat up the pools to more than 20 degrees Celsius on warm summer days.

visualisation of the new blackrock baths, with dark stone steps and pool surrounds, people swimming

Image via Magnaparte

The full proposal and accompanying images are available HERE.

The accompanying petition is looking for 1,000 signatures from people who’d like to see the Blackrock Baths reopened to the public – if you’re interested, get signing HERE.

Header image via magnaparte.com