News / Society
Clifton urinal granted Grade II listed status
A urinal on Blackboy Hill has become a Grade II listed building.
The urinal is a rare surviving example of a once common type of architecture and represents the “civic aspirations of the authorities in the Bristol suburbs in the late Victorian period”, English Heritage have said.
The cast-iron structure was built by Scottish ornamental iron manufacturers W MacFarlane & Co. Ltd in the 1880s, and is still in regular use.
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It has been listed by English Heritage because it represents a “special historical interest”.
Its installation over a century ago has been said to illustrate the growth of the Bristol suburbs in the late 19th century and the types of facilities provided by the local authorities in order to “foster the genteel middle-class environment to which they aspired”.
The slender cast-iron frame features decorative panels with a geometric, Moorish-style theme. Inside, two rows of bowed urinal units are porcelain with curved metal ‘modesty’ screens between them at chest level.
Visitors to the loo must share some appreciation for the Victorian architecture as the urinal remains free from deliberate damage or graffiti – although we’d discourage including the heritage site on your sightseeing tours, as it still is (and smells like) a urinal.
Maggie Shapland from the Clifton & Hotwells Improvement Society told BBC Bristol: “We are really glad it makes it harder to destroy our heritage by raising awareness and we are highly delighted to keep part of our historic streetscape.”
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