John Williams was not inactive during the building of his rival’s new bathing establishment, and on 27 July 1835, the birthday of William IV, he opened the Royal Promenade and Cheltenham Spa Rooms, housed in a magnificent neo – Doric building designed by the important Leeds architect Clark. The Spa Rooms’ site, at the corner of what later became King’s Road and Ripon Road, was ideal, being at the heart of Low Harrogate and next to the important “Cheltenham” Well discovered in 1818.
The Spa Rooms, with their pump room facility, their great ball room, library, lounges and surrounding gardens, ensured that Harrogate now had an amenity which was as good as anything available in other British spas, and one which gave the town a standard of architectural elegance which would influence development for some time to come.
Image: Spa Rooms 1860