Bathhouse no. 5

Bathhouse no. 5 was built in 1939 on the base of spring no. 5, north of Tskaltubo Park. The author of the building was Nikolai Severov (1887-1957), a prominent architect working in Georgia, co-author of the first Tskaltubo master plan. Nikolai Severeov is the author of such important projects as the reconstruction of the Georgian National Museum (Tbilisi, 1927-29), the Rustaveli Cinema (Tbilisi, 1939), sanatoriums and holiday homes in Borjomi, Gagra, etc. Traces of the decline of the resort, similar to other buildings, can be traced in case of the Bathhouse no. 5 as well. Today it is abandoned, but still retains its artistic value. The building of Bathhouse no. 5 is designed in the Stalin’s Empire Style/Socialist realism style, though it is less pretentious. The planning structure of the building is symmetrical. Its central part is two-floored. The entrance to the building is decorated with a portico resting on four columns, while the rest of the façade is simple. On the vertical axis of the central part, there is a section for balneological treatments on one floor. The system of inner courtyards on the side façades gives a special charm to the building. The rectangular yards are connected to the park space by open colonnades. Therefore, the rigid boundary between the building and the park space is blurred and the building retains its lightness. Until 1979, there were 2 communal swimming pools, 14 individual baths and cabinets for different types of procedures. In the pools and baths, the healing water was distributed through pipes from the collecting pool. The bathhouse could serve 68 people in one hour.