Fleet Street, Wednesday

The new Empire Pool and Sports Arena at Wembley was formally opened to-day by the Duke of Gloucester, a fitting climax to a remarkable achievement.

Nothing comparable with this swimming pool has been seen in England before. It is more like sea than a pool, and the architect has encouraged this illusion by sloping the floor of the bath right up to the surface of the water at the shallow end, so that one walks in as though from a shelving beach. At the other end of the pool, 200 feet away, the water is 16½ feet deep, so that the clumsiest diver from the 10-metre board can come to no harm. In the wall of the bath under the diving stage far below the surface are concealed four great pistons which, when set moving, make artificial waves of any height up to six feet from trough to crest. At night coloured lights can be turned on to illuminate the water from below.

The pool is 60 feet wide and on either side of it there is a 12-foot terrace, a flight of six shallow steps, and another terrace bounded by the colonnade which supports the first-floor gallery, on which are various restaurants. Above this again is the gallery with 5,000 permanent seats for spectators; another 7,500 spectators can be given temporary seats if necessary.

Purification every four hours

On the ground floor there is a restaurant for the use of bathers, and on either side of the bath, stowed away beneath the galleries, are 250 dressing-boxes and 1,250 lockers. The water, 700,000 gallons of it, is purified by the chloramine process, and the machinery installed is capable of turning over, filtering, and sterilising the whole of the water once every four hours.

One’s first impressions on entering the building are of light, coolness, and immense space. The vast arc of the roof leaps clear for 240 feet from wall to wall, its topmost point 90 feet above the water, and through its glass expanse the sun was shining down to-day on the green, glinting water and the wide concrete terraces. The far end of the building behind the diving stage consists of great sliding doors of glass, and outside it there are more concrete terraces for sun bathing.

The opening of the Wembley swimming pool, 1934. Source: YouTube.

Between the diving stage and the doors there is one of the most charming things of all – a shallow circular pool for children, and in the middle of it a fountain raining, bright showers to tempt small adventurers. Everything is airy and spacious; even in the galleries there is not a single pillar to block a spectator’s view.

The pool will be opened to the public on Saturday, but it will be closed to them again (except as spectators) for part or all of every day from August 4 to August 10, during which the Empire Games, swimming, boxing, and wrestling competitions, will take place in the building. For the swimming competition a temporary wall will be built across the bath at a point 50 yards from the deep end; this will give a depth of water at the wall of about 5½ feet.

Ice hockey in the winter

After the Empire Games the pool will be open to the public seven days a week from 7am to midnight until the middle of October, when it will be drained and decked over; ice hockey will then be played on it from November to April, though it can be adapted in 24 hours for boxing or wrestling matches. It is to be the headquarters of the Empire Swimming Club, Highgate Diving Club, Wembley Ice Hockey Club, and Public Schools Ice Hockey Club.

After the opening ceremony 600 people sat down to a celebratory lunch in the first-floor gallery and were entertained by diving displays. The Duke of Gloucester spoke of the pool as “a centre for every indoor sport and recreation of which we may well be proud,” and Sir Noel Curtis-Bennett gave well-deserved praise to the courage and imagination of MR. A J Elvin, who as managing director has been the originator and mainspring of the whole enterprise. The designer of the building was Sir E Owen Williams, the constructional engineer.