The triangular site between Swanston, Victoria and Franklin streets was reserved for a public bath facility in 1850.

The objective was to encourage people from bathing in the Yarra River, which by the 1850s had become quite polluted and the cause of an epidemic of typhoid fever, which hit the city resulting in many deaths.

[3] After a period of decline and demolition threats in the 1970s, the building was saved by a Builders Labourers Federation green ban.

[8] The rear furnace and caretakers cottage were replaced with squash courts and gym space in a matching red brick, the pools were restored though most of the numerous changing booths were removed, most of the bath cubicles replaced with other facilities, and a single entrance stair created.

[9] The baths now house two swimming pools, spa, sauna, squash courts and a gymnasium.