| Pittville Pump Room | |
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 Interactive map of the Pittville Pump Room area | |
| General information | |
| Coordinates | 51°54′43″N2°04′02″W / 51.912025°N 2.06735°W /51.912025; -2.06735 |
| Completed | 1830 |
| Owner | The Cheltenham Trust |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | John Forbes |
Historic site | |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Pittville Pump Room |
| Designated | 12 March 1955 |
| Reference no. | 1387559 |
ThePittville Pump Room was the last and largest of thespa buildings to be built inCheltenham.
The benefits of Cheltenham's mineral waters had been recognised since 1716, but not until after the arrival ofHenry Skillicorne in 1738 did serious exploitation of their potential as an attraction begin. After the visit to Cheltenham in1788 ofKing George III, the town became increasingly fashionable, and wells were opened up at several points round the town.[1]Pittville, the vision ofJoseph Pitt, was a planned 'new town' development of the 1820s, in which the centre-piece was (and remains) a pump-room where the waters of one of the more northerly wells could be taken.
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The Pump Room was built by thearchitectJohn Forbes between 1825 and 1830. It is a Grade Ilisted building standing at the northern end of Pittville Lawn with landscaped grounds running down to a lake. The building contains the original Pump, made ofmarble andscagliola, to which the waters are today fed by electric pumping.
The building has acolonnade ofIonic columns; the interior houses a ballroom on its ground floor. Further Ionic columns support a gallery under a dome from which music might be played; on upper floors there were a billiard room, library and reading room. Above the colonnade are three statues, by Lucius Gahagen, erected in 1827, of the goddessHygieia,Aesculapius andHippocrates.[2]
The Pump Room and its grounds were managed during the 19th century by a succession of lessees, who offered the typical fare of pleasure gardens including menageries, exhibitions and balloon ascents. However the concession did not prove lucrative. Eventually Pitt himself went bankrupt and in 1890 the Room and the grounds passed into the ownership of thetown council.[3]
They are now part ofThe Cheltenham Trust, a charity which also manages the Cheltenham Town Hall, theWilson Art Gallery & Museum, thePrince of Wales Stadium and Leisure at Cheltenham - plus the town's Tourist Information Centre which has continued to use them for public events. The Pump Room is frequently used as a concert hall, especially during theCheltenham Music Festival. At one time the upper floor housed a Museum of Fashion.
Following elections in 2007 the incoming Council discussed the possibility of selling the Pump Room but after widespread protests this proposal was later dropped in favour of a limitedprivatization which would retain the building's public use.[4][5]
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