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Origin and history

The swimming pool at 160 rue Oberkampf, opened in 1887 under the name of Bains parisiennes, is part of the movement to create the first outdoor swimming pools in Paris from the 1880s onwards. These private facilities offered a variety of baths (cold, hot, steam), hydrotherapeutic treatments, and a swimming pool, often using condensation water from nearby industrial machinery. The Oberkampf swimming pool, sixth of its kind after Château-Landon (1884), was distinguished by its mixed programme: housing, commerce, and a restaurant on the banks of the basin, all designed by architect Auguste Perrin for Claude-Marie Cathiard, deputy mayor of the 3rd arrondissement.

In the 1920s, the swimming pool underwent major changes: its L-shaped basin ( unique in Paris, dictated by the constraints of the terrain), its glass cobblestone cover replacing the original metal frame, and the replacement of the cabins. Unlike other swimming pools of the time, it preserves original elements such as its vestibule with thematic stained glass windows and its fireplace in the courtyard. These transformations, less radical than elsewhere, make it an example preserved of the first Parisian swimming pools, before their standardization in the 1920s. Its inscription in the Historical Monuments in 2023 protects these remains.

The building, at the back of a courtyard on a narrow plot, illustrates the adaptation of urban swimming pools to available spaces. Its initial basin, although modified, remains legible and its dimensions have not been altered by subsequent standards. The Oberkampf pool thus embodies the evolution of seaside practices in Paris, from the therapeutic and elitist model of the 1880s to a more sporty and popular use in the 20th century, while preserving traces of its industrial and architectural history.

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