The Women's Library

Old Castle Street,London E1 7NT.
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In 1845-47 wash-houses and public baths were constructed on the site between Old Castle Street and Goulston Street, with swimming baths being added at a later date. Washhouses were established as a place where local people could wash themselves and their laundry, for which few if any facilities were provided within the home.

Most were constructed following the 1846 Baths and Washhouses Act but a "Committee for Promoting the Establishment of Baths and Wash-Houses for the Labouring Classes" had been founded in 1844 under Robert Cotton, Governor of the Bank of England. They founded their first washhouse in Whitechapel in that year and then planned a model establishment; the Goulston Square Washhouse in 1846.

This pioneering improvement designed by Price Pritchard Baly was completed in 1851. The Builder called it "not simply plain and unpretentious, but downright ugly." Its construction was indeed utilitarian and designed to be fireproof,combining brown brick walls with an iron roof. Only the washhouse facade survives in Old Castle Street. It comprises a Classical arrangement of seven bays of simple round-headed windows and is completely unadorned except for 'Washhouse' and the date inscribed over the entrance.

In 1989 the complex was closed and demolished. The University bought the site in 2001 and commissioned the building of The Women's Library, which incorporates the fa?ade of the wash-houses in the new building.

A section of the above text reproduced by permission of The Buildings Books Trust from www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk

The Women's Library accommodates: