LES THERMES CHAMBERT

About

Listed as a Historic Monument.

The Chambert Baths, dating from 1854 and 1858.

The listed features are the bathhouse and the entrance hall. They were listed in 1977.

The building, known as the Thermes Chambert, consists of a long 97 m wing facing the Quinconces esplanade. It is preceded by a gallery of 28 Doric columns,

interrupted in the centre by a monumental semi-circular archway topped by a triangular pediment.

The whole complex is in white Saint-Béat marble and is made up of monolithic blocks for the columns. The rest of the building is built of rendered schist masonry with Picadère stone for the opening surrounds, cornices and decorative stringcourses. The roofs are slate. The large archway leads to the Salle des Pas Perdus, perpendicular to the building, which serves two wings on either side (forming an H) and a monumental staircase located in its axis.

This cross-vaulted room, covered by a long-sloped roof supported by a wooden framework, was painted by Raymond Cazes. It is lit by four side windows and a large front window. The marble floor alternates between Saint-Béat breche and griotte rouge (from Sarrancolin?). The roof timbers do not rest directly on the crossbeams: the space provided is designed to adapt to changes in the roof due to the weight of the snow. Each of the two wings is punctuated by four pavilions, corresponding to the seven large bathrooms and the swimming pool shown on the 1860 plan cited by Lambron.

Six of them are covered by a double gable roof, while the last two (in the centre of the western section) are lower, pavilion-shaped and finished with a glass roof. The vaults of these pavilions still have painted decorations and decorated glass roofs. The four gables of the double gabled pavilions are pierced with thermal windows, making them very bright.