Le Bains Thermal de Spa
THE ABANDONED HEALTH RESORT IN BELGIUM
‘Le Bains Thermal’ is one of the oldest buildings in Spa, a specialized resort town situated around a mineral spa. The town has been famous for its water as early as the 14th century. Eventually, the bath house was abandoned and reconverted to a hotel.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the city Spa experienced significant urban redevelopment with the construction of this ‘Les Bains Thermal’ building in 1862.
This thermal infrastructure would include both 54 equipped baths and peat baths. The grand opening took place in 1868. The City modernized the thermal building in 1905, but the First World War took away any tourist activity, transforming the spa in a vast lazaretto for the German army.
Meanwhile, a new, modern spa house was opened in 2004. This old one has been out of use and abandoned ever since. In 2020 works started, the building was partly demolished and parts will be restored. The spa will be transformed to a 5-star hotel with 80 rooms. The architects in charge of the project, plan to reconstruct it, to the original design, using old plans and photographs. I visited ‘Le Bains Thermal’ in 2014. Follow this link for more abandoned spa resorts.
