Mr C.E. Wigzells Turkish Baths &c., Oxford Street.

Rare colonial engraving of Wigzell’s at 95 Oxford Street Turkish Baths. Detailed views of the interior of the baths.

FOR a period of more than seventeen years Mr. C. E. Wigzell has been known as an Oxford Street tradesman, enjoying an extensive patronage as an artist in hair work, &c, and as one of the first to supply that great desideratum in warm latitudes-good baths. Of these he has had several descriptions, and has lately added a Turkish. For this some medical men claim great curative powers, apart from which it is in every respect the king of baths, and if not quite so costly in maintaining would be found in every country town as well as in the metropolis. In constructing the requisite premises for this branch of the establishment, the designer has pro- fitted by the latest experience gained in London and elsewhere, in order, to make the place as complete as possible. That he has succeeded in this is proved by numbers of persons who visit it daily, two morning’s weekly being specially reserved for ladies. Entering a neatly arranged shop, stocked with hair work, perfumery, &c., the visitor receives a ticket, by which he obtains admission to the dressing room, where his clothing is locked up in a separate compartment, of which he receives , the key, and, being supplied with a loose covering, enters the lavatorium, and on going through the initiatory process, passes into a warmer apartment-technically known as the tepidarium- of a very ornate character. The floor is laid with tessellated pavement, the walls relieved by statues placed in niches, and a softened light is supplied through a skylight of stained glass of Oriental design. A stay of half an hour is made here in a high temperature, but if a still warmer atmosphere is desired, it can be obtained in the next apartment, or caldarium, at the end of which is placed the boiler apparatus, from which pipes radiate in every direction that the establishment requires artificial heat. A brief stay in this room generally suffices. The visitor haying remained sufficiently long in either of the two hot rooms, takes his place on one of the .marble slabs of the lavatorium, shown in the right hand lower corner of our illustration, and undergoes a description of kneading, process at the hands of one of the coloured attendants. The next portion of the course necessitates some time being spent in lowering, the temperature of the body. This is effected in the ” cooling room,” a spacious apartment furnished with chairs, lounges, marble tables, newspapers, magazines, &c, and here time can be whiled away in the enjoyment of the fragrant weed or cup of coffee. If the visitor is of a botanical turn of mind it may be exercised by visiting a pretty conservatory, which promises to become one of the features of the place. On the first floor, looking. into Oxford Street, is located the ladies’ hair-dressing department, the privacy of which is maintained after the Oriental fashion, as even our reporter could not enter while any of the fair sex were present. Of the hot water baths nothing new can be said ; they have an established reputation amongst the most complete of their kind in any of the colonies. Keeping pace with the times is evidently the motto of the proprietor, and his efforts to do so are so much appreciated by his customers that his example might well be followed by others who have to depend upon their exertions to please the public. The day of old-fashioned notions is passing away, and what might have suited Sydney in the past will not be acceptable to a younger and more advanced generation.

From the original edition of the Illustrated Sydney News.