When city officials began opening public baths in poor neighborhoods all over New York, they could have put up cheap, purely functional structures.
Instead, architects designed lovely, dignified bath buildings, like this Beaux-Arts treasure on 11th Street between Avenues A and B.
Built in 1906 and used as a public bath until the 1950s, it has some enchanting ornamental touches—like the fish framing Neptune’s trident.
Landmarked in 2008, the building is now a photo studio.
Tags: 11th Street Public Baths, East Village tenement, Neptune's trident, New York City in 1906, NYC Public Baths, ornanmental touches on NYC buildings, tenement neighborhoods in NYC
Ephemeral New York 
December 29, 2010 at 7:23 am |
Great find. I actually used the Allen Street public bath a few times, in the 1970s. It was the last one to close. Here’s a really fancy one, the Asser Levy public bath on East 23rd Street:
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GRP/GRP034.htm
December 29, 2010 at 1:32 pm |
When I was a kid in the 50s I used to the Asser Levy pools in back of the 23rd St building. They also had an indoor pool but for some reason didn’t let kids use it.
December 29, 2010 at 2:32 pm |
Asser Levy is a beauty for sure. I’d love to see that indoor pool with the giant dolphin statue.
December 31, 2010 at 4:49 pm |
Do you know for a fact that it was a choice between purely functional buildings and dignified architecture? I believe “functional” buildings were only invented in the middle of the 20th century. For those building the baths, there was no such choice – civic society dictated that every building be dignified, beautiful, memorable, and built for the ages.
March 11, 2015 at 4:42 am |
Code 5 Group
Neptunes trident on the 11th Street public baths | Ephemeral New York
July 2, 2018 at 5:44 am |
[…] some details with the other public bathhouses that still exist in the city. See the dolphins and Poseidon’s trident decorating the […]
February 25, 2019 at 6:36 am |
[…] been better taken care of and are still in use today—as a recreation center on 54th Street, a photo studio on East 11th Street, and even a church not far away on Allen […]