Debt and dry out

Unfortunately like many bankers of his time, Pitt later ran into financial difficulties, the building went out of favour and it was eventually sold to the Borough of Cheltenham for a mere £5,400 in 1890 – a fraction of the original cost. During the Second World War the Pump Room housed British and American army personnel, when dry rot was allowed to creep through the structure unchecked, and only after the full extent of the damage was revealed after the war. Plaster, brickwork, timber: nearly everything was affected. The dome was only held in position by a shell of plaster: the timber had been eaten by fungus.