About Rothesay Victorian Toilets

Built in 1899, these public conveniences by the pier in Rothesay on the Scottish island of Bute are perhaps the most complete Victorian toilets to remain in Britain. The men’s bath-room was constructed while the island was a booming resort, at a time in which even the most basic of functions demanded decorative opulence. The toilets are clad in patterned ce-ramic tiles and mosaics bearing the crest of the Royal Burgh of Rothesay. In addition, twenty urinals in white porcelain and green marble are fed by three glass-walled cisterns mounted near the ceiling. Art and culture are just fine, but the Rothesay lavatories truly show the extent of Victorian luxury. They recall the days before foreign holidays when a sail “doon the watter” was the annual holiday experience for many thousands of Glaswegians.
During the Victorian era, Rothesay became a popular tourist destination. In particular, it was hugely popular with Glaswegians going "doon the watter" (literally “down the water” – a reference to the waters of the Firth of Clyde). Its wooden pier was busy with steamer traffic. It was home to one of Scotland's many hydropathic establishments, which were in vogue at the time.It also had an electric tramway, the Rothesay and Ettrick Bay Light Railway, which ran across the whole island of Bute and carried passengers to one of the island's largest beaches. (The tramway closed in the mid-1930s.) A war memorial designed by Pilkington Jackson was erected in 1922. The Winter Gardens building, erected in 1923, was a centre of many activities in Rothesay in the mid-20th century, hosting some of the best-known music hall entertainers of the day. Rothesay Pavilion, opened in 1938, was another popular attrac-tion. It was an example of International Modernist style architecture, and was designed by the Ayr architect, James Andrew Carrick. (Although it later fell into disrepair, it remains a major landmark on the seafront today, and is currently undergoing a complete restoration.)
During World War II, Rothesay Bay was the home port of HMS Cyclops, which was the depot ship for the 7th Submarine Flotilla and the training facility for virtually all the British subma-riners who served during the war.[10] In 1941 and 1942, the Officer Concentration Station Rothsay was also located here. By the 1960s, Rothesay's heyday as a tourist mecca had largely ended. Inexpensive foreign package holidays had become more popular with UK res-idents. The Winter Gardens building was closed and lay in disuse for decades. However, it was redeveloped in the 1990s, and is now open as a tourist information and exhibition centre.

Text from Wikipedia - with thanks

 Photos © Billy McCrorie (cc-by-sa/2.0) and Thomas Nugent (cc-by-sa/2.0)