It was a Victorian home with its own library; it had an artesian well in the basement, where Beecher would take plunge baths.
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1896 map of Old Street showing a plan of the hospital. The first chief physician was Dr William Battie who was renowned as ‘an eccentric humorist’. He believed ‘the patients of this hospital shall not be exposed to publick view.’ Medical treatment consisted of cold plunge baths to shake lunatics out of their insanity.
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Also on the property are the original flanking stone entrance piers and rusted iron gates and casino building. The casino is a sprawling two story Colonial Revival style building with shingled facades and a hipped roof. The original section, holding a squash court and plunge baths, was designed in the 1890s by McKim, Mead, and White. In 1905, a wing containing a ballroom and designed by Stanford White, was added.
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In 1904 the Government of Canada did construction on the side of today's Rimrock Resort, adding two cement plunge basins, bath tubs and a swimming basin. In 1931 after the second fire, the government of Canada began to renovate the Upper Springs bathhouse. In 1932 the newly renovated bathhouse opens, with additions of sulphur water swimming pool, plunge baths, steam rooms, tubs, showers and dressing rooms. This renovation was an attempt by the government to modernize park facilities by adding luxury upgrades that would rival other international spas.
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Each block had access to courtyards, known as airing courts, and the asylum was surrounded by extensive grounds. At the end of each courtyard were stone rooms used to house incontinent patients, who slept on straw beds. All buildings were made from stone and iron, avoiding the use of wood because of the potential fire hazard. Hot and cold plunge baths were also included, as Fox saw their use as an important part of treatment, which may have been related to his Quaker beliefs and John Wesley's advocacy of the practice.
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Behind the main building were two gardens for the exercise of the less disturbed inmates, one for men and another for women. More dangerous residents were kept inside, or in their cells. The treatment regime consisted of cold plunge baths, and a focus on the gastrointestinal system with the administration of anti- spasmodics, emetics (to induce vomiting) and purgatives. All patients were transferred to other institutions or their homes in 1916, and the buildings were acquired by the Bank of England to become the St Luke's Printing Works, used for printing bank notes until the early 1950s.
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In the early part of the 20th century, a well-graded wagon road was built southward from Jamesburg across the mountains and down into the canyon, and by 1918 the springs were easily reached by stagecoach. In 1904 a stone hotel was built, and other improvements added yearly so that by 1909 there was ample accommodation for 75 people, although a larger number were put up in tents. Water from two of the largest springs has been piped to tub and plunge baths, and a vapor bath constructed over the hottest spring, which issues from the creek bed. Analyses of two of the thermal waters showed them to be noticeably sulphuretted, and only moderately mineralized.
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The first public baths were built on the site by the Vestry of St. James in 1850. The proposal for the baths is mentioned in Public Baths and Wash-houses (1850) and suggests the baths follow a model of 64 first and second class baths, 60 washing compartments, 60 separate drying chambers, 16 ironing compartments and 2 large plunge baths (1st and 2nd class). The land for the Westminster baths was costed at £3,500 including a house for the superintendent. The highest charges were fixed by the Sir Henry Dukinfield's Act at 6d for first class warm bath, 2d for second class warm bath (half these prices for a cold bath) and with charges of 1d/hour for washing, drying and ironing apparatus.
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