What it is
The Bath House was built by the government's Department of Tourist and Health Resorts between 1906 and 1908 and opened by Prime Minister Joseph Ward. A half-timbered building in the Elizabethan Revival style, it was New Zealand's first major spa and drew tens of thousands of visitors a year to its thermal treatments. Spa use declined from the 1940s, and the baths closed in 1966.
The museum opened in the south wing in 1969 and an art gallery in the north wing in 1977; the two merged in 1988. The building closed in November 2016 because it did not meet earthquake standards. Rotorua Lakes Council voted in 2023 to restore it, and strengthening work began in June 2024, with completion expected in 2027. Until then the building can be seen only from the outside, across the lawns of the Government Gardens.
Getting there by bus
The Bath House stands at the far end of the Government Gardens. Rotorua CBD - Arawa Street (stop 3003), the city's main bus interchange about 570 metres away, is served by routes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, a walk of about seven minutes.
The same routes stop at Fenton Street - Fronting No. 1231 (stop 3042), about 510 metres away, and regional routes 15 and 15a stop at Rotorua I-Site (stop 3195), about 460 metres from the building.
