Photos

The Rotorua bathhouse
The Tudor-style Rotorua bathhouse, opened in 1908, was a symbol of the government’s ambition to create a great South Seas spa. It was designed to attract visitors from New Zealand and overseas. The imposing façade of the building was matched by a luxurious interior, furnished with marble sculptures, magnificent porcelain baths and plush couches. Outside there were beautifully kept gardens, a band rotunda, bowling and croquet greens, and tennis courts.
The fashionable spa
The government’s vision was of a colonial version of European spas. These health resorts at natural springs were extremely popular in the 19th century. Spas offered cures for a range of ailments, as well as outdoor pursuits, and diversions ranging from theatre and gambling to clandestine lovers’ meetings. In competing with Europe’s spas, New Zealand’s advantage was its magnificent scenery and unspoilt environment.
In its heyday, around seventy thousand baths were given annually, as well as thirty thousand special treatments including massage, mud baths and electrical therapy.
Using up-to-date equipment, men and women were treated in separate parts of the building, with extensions to the uncompleted women's wing being erected in 1911-1912. Hydrogen sulphide, acidic water and steam led to maintenance difficulties in the ensuing decades, although large numbers of visitors were admitted, including several hundred wounded soldiers during the First World War and notable worthies such as Crown Princess Louise of Sweden.
Arthur Wohlmann, government balneologist
In the late 1890s the government decided to appoint a balneologist (an expert on medicinal springs) to advise on the development of thermal areas as spas. The first appointee was Englishman Dr Arthur Stanley Wohlmann, who had worked at the Royal Hospital at Bath. After touring the spas of Europe, Wohlmann arrived in Rotorua in 1902. As well as overseeing development of the spa there, including construction of the Tudor-style bathhouse, he visited and reported on thermal pools around the country. He wrote two publications, a popular guide to spas called The mineral waters and health resorts of New Zealand (1904) and a work for medical practitioners, Mineral waters and spas of New Zealand (1912). Because of his name, Wohlmann was the victim of misplaced anti-German hysteria during the First World War. He retired to a secluded house on the outskirts of Rotorua, and changed his last name to Herbert. It was under this name that he wrote his best-known work, The hot springs of New Zealand (1921), after his return to England in 1919.
Out of fashion

Administered until 1947 by the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, the building proved to be a maintenance nightmare. Popularity of spa treatments waned until in 1963 the Rotorua City Council took over control of the Bath House. In 1966 all treatments were transferred to nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The baths were eventually closed in 1966 when much of the equipment was removed. Original fixtures were uncovered during an extensive conservation programme in 1995 and are on display as part of the building's current function as Rotorua Museum of Art and History Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa.
The Museum plays an important role in the community – acting as a guardian for our local treasures and providing free educational opportunities for local children and students of all ages.

The Rotorua Museum opened in the South Wing in 1969 and the Rotorua Art Gallery in the North wing in 1977. In 1989 the museum and Art Gallery combined to become the Rotorua Museum of Art and History. Today the museum is visited over 100 000 people per annum.
Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand