Comments on: The Bath Building: Ugliest In Raleigh

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 03:42:21 +0000

Don’t they store viruses like Ebola and Smallpox in this building? I don’t mind the lack of windows if that is the case.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:35:31 +0000

The Bath Building is as bad on the inside as it is on the outside. I worked there from 1992-2007…and it is the NC Public Health Lab, testing everything from Radioactivity in Water to Rabies, to bioterrorism, to newborn screening, to cancer cytology. It’s always looked like the top 2 floors are “egg crates” in a post-modern world.
Inside the building, it can be disorienting, since the rooms on the inside are 45 degrees ascue from what you think they should be.
In the coming years, I think it will be torn down when the Lab moves to it’s new location near the I-40/Edwards Mill Rd. area. I’ll be there to watch the old girl crumble when it comes down….and I’ll have a huge smile on my face.

By: Spatula

Spatula — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:02:08 +0000

I would call this one of the 3 decent looking buildings in the state government complex. The Archdale and the Legislative building are the other two, and you might notice that all 3 work in the context of each other. It’s those other buildings that need to go.

By: John Morris

John Morris — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:07:29 +0000

Yeah, I must admit it grows on me more the more I learn about it. And you may have missed it, but two comments up I state that “I now regret making the declaration of the Bath Building as ‘The Ugliest’, as there are so many more hideous examples”.

By: Devin

Devin — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:55:56 +0000

i dunno, john, i think i like this building, especially after hearing mr. mcdowell’s statements! ugliest? hmm those new mcdonald’s restaurants on peace/boylan and western come to mind

By: Bill McDowell

Bill McDowell — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:21:40 +0000

Having been involved deeply in the design, construction and ultimately working in the Bath Building, I feel somewhat qualified to comment. This building was designed to be the State Laboratory of Public Health replacing then inadequate Shore Building on Lane Street. Jesse M. Paige and Associates were the architects and staff of the State Lab worked closely with them in designing the new building. There are no windows on the upper two floors because that is where the original labs and administrative functions were located. Windows serve no function in a lab, and wall space was maximized in this manner. The Bath Building is actually two buildings in one..there are two separate air handling systems with the lab floors served by single pass air for biological safety reasons. The lower floors are conventional recirculated air. Originally, other non-laboratory offices occupied the lower floors, with the long range plan of moving laboratory administrative functions down to the lower floors as expansion of laboratory services necessitated. This plan functioned well over the past 36 years, but now a new laboratory is being planned away from the downtown locality. Having retired after 32 years of service in 1998, I am not involved with this new facility, but will be anxious to visit when completed.

The curious inverted pyramid shape visible from the outside on the upper floors resulted from having to combine a basic laboratory module size with an office module size. It was necessary to rotate the upper floors 45 degrees to accommodate vertical structural elements not being in the middle of halls or rooms. So, in this case the exterior is purely a result of form following function. And believe me, we did take a lot of flack in the early days too. But it is what it is..and has served the citizens of North Carolina well. The State Laboratory provides medical and environmental laboratory support to all the county health departments across the state.

The Bath Building is named for one of the three original counties of North Carolina. Planning started 1968, construction in 1970 with occupancy in 1973. Total cost was 3.9 million which was quite a bargain!

By: Mojo

Mojo — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:32:11 +0000

I won’t be sorry to see the Garland Jones Building crumble, but “thrilled” would be overstating it. The expense of replacing it alone would take the thrill out of that.

And there are certainly enough examples of bland and ugly to go around. The Archdale Building, and the Albemarle Building would have to be included in the former category. Those two are about as institutional as they get. Beside either of them, the Bath Building is a work of art. And aside from the cost, I can’t say I was sorry to see the old Civic Center go. Though the new one doesn’t thrill me all that much either.

The Pink Palace had to have been designed by the same firm that built the Forum I, II, III, IV, and V buildings out in North Raleigh. Probably several others too. Not attractive, but not the top of the ugly tree exactly.

By: John Morris

John Morris — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:24:29 +0000

I now regret making the declaration of the Bath Building as “The Ugliest”, as there are so many more hideous examples: The windowless AT&T building, the Dobbs Building, the Pink Palace (Education Building), and so on.

The Bath Building has come to grow on me a bit. If it were rehabbed and “reskinned” with glass as Mark suggests, I think we would have a much more appealing structure than what is currently there.

By: Rusty

Rusty — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:59:57 +0000

You should see this baby on the inside…

The building houses labs, exclusively DHHS labs I believe. A wonderfully scaled piece of brutalism.

By: Mojo

Mojo — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:41:14 +0000

Uh uh. the Garland Jones Office Building on South Salisbury is just about the butt-ugliest building in the state, not just downtown Raleigh. In fact, that abomination might be in the running for Top 10 Ugliest Buildings on the East Coast. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about that design. It looks like it was built from factory defects and leftovers of other buildings. Blecch!

It’s possible, since I don’t know what’s housed in this building, that the lack of windows has — or had — a practical reason. buildings that house archives have few if any windows to protect documents from UV light. If the Bath Building is, or was intended to be, a storage facility for archives that would explain its windowless-ness.