ROTORUA MUSEUM, NEW ZEALAND

BATH HOUSE HISTORY

The Rotorua Museum is a beautiful building that seems to have been transported from Europe.   Maybe that’s because it was first a Bath House.  Officially opened in 1908, the designer, Dr. Arthur Stanley Wholmann, favored the “homely timbered buildings of Bad Nauheim”(Germany) rather than “the cold glory of (English) marble palaces”  It is an essentially Elizabethan style of architecture with half-timbered construction, gables, towers and a grand staircase.

A large, yellow,  very ornate building complete with brown gingerbread trim and orange tile roof, the original Bath House faces a green expanse of  lawn where croquet is often played.   Built on land donated by Maori member Ngati Whakane whose only stipulation was that it “be a place for all the people of the world,” the building is still a symbol of Rotorua.

The Bath House was New Zealand’s first venture into the tourism industry hoping to lure visitors to the “Great South Seas Spa.”  Water from the natural, nearby, thermal pools was piped into the Bath House so patrons could “take the cure.”  Thousands came to consult with balneologists who treated their various conditions with baths and water cures.

The area’s thermal pools were used before the Bath House opened.  In 1878, a Catholic Priest, Father Mahoney, was carried to the small spring known as Te Pupunitanga.  After soaking in the acidic waters, he was able to walk home.  This particular pool became known as the “Priest’s Bath. 

To give the Bath House the luxurious atmosphere of European spas, thirteen sculptures were displayed in the foyer.  Twelve of them were created by Charles Francis Summers, a Melbourne Sculptor, who received 2000 pounds for them. 

Ironically, the very water that made the Bath House so popular created a nightmare of maintenance problems.   Corrosion caused by the acidic thermal water and the hydrogen sulphide gas raised havoc with the machinery.   The first problem caused the Bath House to close within a few days of opening when all white lead-painted furniture turned black.  It was a constant battle to keep all the equipment in working order.

Over the years, “taking the cure” went out of style, replaced by newer medical procedures.   The Bath House closed in the 1960’s and was re-opened in 1969 as the Rotorua Museum.

More tomorrow on the wonderful museum now housed in the old Bath House.

www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz

Submitted by Janet Webb Farnsworth, writer and Bernadette Heath, photographer and writer of "Grandma Needs a Four-wheel Drive, Adventure Travel for Seniors."  web page: www.grandmaneedsafour-wheeldrive.com