First bathhouses of Baku in European style:

Fantasy Bathhouse

The Fantasy Bathhouse differs from the previous bathhouses mentioned in Baku, both in interior and exterior configuration

The building is one of Baku's earliest bathhouses designed in European style.' The planimetry of the building is similar to the bathhouses designed in the West 1

The main difference between Fantasy Bathhouse's plan and Anatolian bathhouses is private bathing cells By the end of the 19th century, European-style bathhouses appeared in Baku, and Fantasy Bathhouse is one of the first examples of these bathhouses. Also, the name of these new bathhouses differed from the previous ones While the previous bathhouses usually were named by the owner of it, new bathhouses and shows in the city, by the end of the 19th century, appeared with striking names, such as "Fantasy", "Ermitaj“ 2

Section B

Overview on the meaning of the building in XIX-XXI centuries

Territorial reading

Fantasy Bathhouse is a two storey longitudinal building which is located in the intersection of 4 streets: Islam Safarli str , Dilara Aliyeva str , Mirza Ibrahimov str , Molla Vali Vidadi str

These are the streets which are located in the historical part of Baku, which is called Forstadt. The Forstadt area is bounded on the south by Fountain Square and Nizami Street, on the north by Winter Park, on the west by Azerbaijan Avenue, and on the east by Samad Vurgun Street.

The Forstadt term occurred initially on a plan developed for fortress areas during the Tzar regime in 1822 in order to define suburb area.1 This area is well-known for multiple architectural monuments such as the mansion of the Migran Malikov, the Central City Library named after Mirza Alakbar Sabir, and Fantasy Bathhouse. Currently, Forstadt is popular among young residents and is full of leisure and accommodation facilities

Forstadt .

Originating from the German word Vorstadt, it is defined as a city area that is outside of the Altstadt (city center), however, closely attached to it and densely populated, hence, differentiates itself from a Vorort (suburb)

Historically, a Vorstadt was an area outside of the city walls, sometimes designated for specific trades

Abandonment of Fantasy Bathhouse

The Fantasy Bathhouse, is abandoned architectural monument in the heart of Baku city The abandonment of the building is visible from the exterior immediately, because of the decay of the building facades are facing

The two story building is located in the narrow streets of old Baku district, and is hidden among the recently built multi-story residential buildings, which makes it to be “invisible”

In the neighbouring streets, like Bashir Safaroglu there have been recently done restoration activites, but the case is not the same for the surrounding of Fantasy Bathhouse. Even though some architectural monuments located in Islam Safarli street, like Melikov’s mansion designed by Józef Gosławski’, the overall situation of the street is not positive Some of the historical monuments were destructed during the construction of the new buildings This destructive activites started to become a threat for the important architectural monuments of Baku.

Thanks to the new infrastructures that the residential buildings currently have, nowadays going to a bathhouse to become clean is a nostalgic phenomena Since the function of the Fantasy Bathhouse started to loose its importance day by day, it lost the visitors as well, and as a result it become and abandoned former bathhouse in the center of the city. Even though Fantasy Bathhouse was counted as one of the most luxurious bathhouses of XIX century, it is not relevant to the XX1. The expectations from a bathhouse changed by years, people are seeking for more facilities than just being washed when they choose to go to a bathhouse, which means former luxurious bathhouse loosing its power to the expectations of new capitalist era

Even though these factors affected the fate of the Fantasy Bathhouse, it does not mean there are not any historical bathhouses that are functioning today. “Teze bey”, “Aga Mikayil”, “Qasim bey”.

During the last few years, there have been several articles in newspapers questioning whether Fantasy Bathhouse is being demolished or not. There are several reasons for this question's release. One of the most important reasons is its abandonment; the doors of the building have been closed for the last few years Even though next to the main entrance, there is a sign saying the Fantasy Bathhouse is on the Architectural Heritages list and is protected by the Ministry of Culture, locked doors and the gradually fading situation of the building was increasing the doubts about the protection of the monument.

The only sign about the life around Fantasy Bathhouse was the man sitting on his armchair in front of the building for a long time. When I was visiting the site, I was asked by the man whether we were going to demolish the building or restore it, and stressing out his wishes for the restoration of the building.

The trash bins next to the Fantasy Bathhouse's eastern façade is creating an anti-sanitarian situation on the site

Entering the building was the most challenging part of the project, and it was possible 9 months after the project started. The first building interior visit was done on 16th April 2022 The first time to enter the building was a great experience, since it will give more information about the current situation of the structure.

The entrance to the building was from the secondary entrance, since the main entrance has been close for a long time The second entrance is from the courtyard of the building which is connected with the tearoom.

The tearoom ceiling had been opposed to the damages caused by the water flood on the roof .The timber structure of the ceiling is opposed. The walls of the tearoom were damaged partially and there are seen lost parts on them. The windows opening to the courtyard have broken.

The interior of the building in overall is in high level of damage, but structural elements are safe apart from the tearoom ceiling.

The bathrooms have decays caused by humidity, the windows are partially broken and the trashes are seen inside of the bathrooms. The tiles covering the bathroom walls are partially missing or damaged Due to the sanitarian situation it was not possible to enter some of the bathrooms.

We were able to go upstairs from the staircase which was next to the tearoom However, the staircase was full with the trashes and it was difficult to reach the second floor The staircase located outside is also connected with the second floor, which had missing steps and it was not possible to use

The courtyard of the Fantasy Bathhouse is also not in good situation, however the inclined tree succeeded to survive

In overall, the Fantasy Bathhouse looks to be abandoned to destruction. If the control would not be taken it is possible to loose this monument gradually.