Public Bathhouse

The municipal public baths, in Laval

The municipal public baths of Laval are an Art Deco building of the 1920s, with a sober and geometric façade. The Laval audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this witness of the public hygiene of the past, built between 1925 and 1927, reflection of a moment of the social history of the town.

The Art Deco witness of public hygiene

Let us stop for a moment to speak of the municipal public baths. Impossible to miss their sober and geometric façade, so typical of the 1920s. This building was built between 1925 and 1927, in the Art Deco style then in vogue, characterised by its refined lines, its geometric forms and its functional elegance. The public baths tell an important page of the social history of the towns: at the beginning of the twentieth century, at a time when numerous working-class dwellings did not have running water nor a bathroom, the municipalities created these public establishments where the inhabitants could come to wash for a modest price, even free. These public baths answered a true stake of public health and hygiene, in a spirit of social progress and collective well-being. The building of Laval testifies to this concern and to the effort of the towns to improve the living conditions of their inhabitants. With their careful architecture, these baths also illustrate the concern to combine the useful and the beautiful, even for an equipment with a working-class vocation. Today, the building is a precious witness of the heritage of the twentieth century. An Art Deco building and a social memory, the municipal public baths are a fine stop of the discovery of Laval.

What to see

You admire the building with a sober and geometric façade typical of the 1920s, built between 1925 and 1927 in the Art Deco style; the public baths tell a page of the social history, when the towns created these establishments to allow the inhabitants without running water to wash, in a spirit of progress and public hygiene, combining the useful and the beautiful. The municipal public baths are a social memory of Laval. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The municipal public baths lie in the centre of Laval, reachable on foot. You admire their Art Deco façade from the street; the interior access, according to the current use of the building, follows its own conditions. You discover them during a walk in the town.

What are the municipal public baths of Laval?

A building with a sober and geometric façade typical of the 1920s, built between 1925 and 1927 in the Art Deco style; these public baths testify to the social history, when the towns created these establishments to allow the inhabitants whose dwellings did not have running water to wash, in a spirit of social progress and public hygiene.

Where are the municipal public baths in Laval?

In the centre of Laval, in France.