NS0864 : Victorian Toilets
taken 12 years ago, near to Rothesay, Bute, Argyll And Bute, Scotland
George Smith & Co was founded by George Smith & Co in 1858 in Port Dundas Road, Glasgow.
The firm produced a wide range of products at the Sun Foundry in particular gates,railings, bandstands, urinals, drinking water and ornamental fountains.
Examples can be found in Scotland, the British Isles and worldwide. Much of the ironwork in the Glasgow Necropolis is attributable to the Sun Foundry.
The foundry closed in 1899 after a move to Linwood in 1897.
The Isle of Bute has much to attract the tourist, but this small building by the pier must be one of the most unusual jewels in the island's crown.
The toilets were commissioned by Rothesay Harbour Trust in 1899 during the town's hey-day as a "doon the watter" holiday resort and no expense was spared in their design and construction.
They were renovated in the 1990s at which time the Ladies toilets were modernised, but the Gents survive in all their designed to impress Victorian splendour.
The walls are covered with patterned and moulded ceramic tiles and the floor is covered with a ceramic mosaic. The pipes and fittings are in polished brass and the grand urinals which line the walls are made of white porcelain, surrounded with dark green imitation marble. The overhead cisterns are made of marble framed glass. A further cluster of urinals forms an island on the floor.
The cisterns in the equally grand cubicles are the only non-original fittings.
Having used the facilities, you should now wash your hands on the way out in one of the elegant imitation grey marble ceramic wash basins.