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The Episcopal Church of the Mediator is full of splendid treasures that may soon be lost.
In honor of the warm weather (hopefully) dawning on the city soon, we thought we’d share a list of New York’s most notable swimming pools–from historically significant ones in ruins, a floating public pool in the works, to ones crowning five star hotels. What follows is a list of notable pools around the city.
The Woolworth Building pool
In the depths of the the Woolworth Building, one of New York’s most iconic landmarks, rests the remnants of a Pompeii-inspired pool. Covered extensively in our The New York City That Never Was column, the pool was designed by Woolworth Building architect Cass Gilbert and used until 1999 as part of the Jack Lalane health club. Today, it is undergoing renovation as part of the partial conversion of the Woolworth Building into luxury condominiums.
Check out our photos of the pool in its abandoned state, pre-renovation. Note our upcoming tour of the building, led by Cass Gilbert’s great granddaughter
VIP Tour of the Woolworth Building
We recently covered the discovery of the legendary Hotel St. George pool by Scouting NY. Though thought to be lost, the pool remains in tact beneath another smaller pool and the wooden floor of the gym. Many notable celebrities traversed the halls of the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn Heights, and the luxury of the hotel, manifested in the pool, gained great fame. The pool is unique on this list in that it was filled with salt water.
Read more about the illustrious history of the Hotel St. George and the other remnants you can still see.
Built in 1904, this is considered the oldest pool still in use in New York City, possibly the country. The pool was built as a part of the largest gymnasium for women in the country, Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Building. Now the pool is a part of the Teachers College of Columbia University and has changed little since original construction–a turn of the century European take on Roman baths.
The largest pool on our list–and in New York City–is the Astoria Pool in Queens. The Art Deco/Art Moderne-influenced pool stands as a beacon to the days of Robert Moses‘ New York. Under Moses and Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia‘s leadership, eleven public pools were erected around the city. On the day of the pool’s opening in 1936, Olympic trials for the U.S. team were held, followed by trials again in 1964. More photos of how this pool looks today, here.
The Lasker Rink and Pool is unique on our list in that it doubles as an ice skating rink in the fall and winter, as its name suggests. The space opened in 1966 on the site of an original landscape of Central Park. The site, one of Olmsted’s and Vaux’s pristine works, was a viewpoint from the Harlem Meer to the Loch. Since the construction of the Pool and Rink, this view is no longer possible.
The Keith Haring murals at the Carmine Street Pool
Originally called the Carmine Street Recreation Center, now the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, it is a complex located in the West Village (indeed on Carmine Street) with indoor and outdoors pools in addition to gym facilities. What really shines is the outdoor pool, which has a large mural done by Keith Haring in August of 1987 lining one of the walls. The mural is a mixture of abstract shapes, people, and fish.
Photograph Courtesy of Room Mate Grace Hotel
The Room Mate Grace Hotel is a boutique hotel in Times Square with a swim up bar noted for hosting parties, movies (projected onto the wall above the bar), and art installations. Before the advent of Spa Castle, it was in the only swim up bar in New York City.
Rendering courtesy +POOL
Not built yet, +POOL is a proposed floating pool whose walls will filter millions of gallons of the East River daily. +POOL has partnered with engineers at ARUP, designers at IDEO, and consultants at Storefront for Art and Architecture and has an impressive list of advisors, which range from senators to Olympic swimmers. Advisor Paul Kelterborn from the Municipal Art Society tells Untapped Cities that “+ POOL is one of the most exciting new grassroots ideas for making NYC more livable.” It’s had two very successful Kickstarter campaigns, the more recent raising nearly $275,000.
The city-run floating pool floats on the river and utilizes filtered river water. The pool was first used in 2006 in Brooklyn Heights, and since then, has moved around to various spots each summer. In recent years, it has been at the Barretto Point Park in Hunts Point, the Bronx. This pool will have a great view of the abandoned South and North Brother Islands.
We’re partial to the days when the McCarren Park pool wasn’t a working pool anymore and hosting rocking summer concerts for their Sunday Pool Parties…but hey, we’re glad it’s still a public amenity. In 2012, Marvel Architects strengthened the 1936 brick archway and erased years of graffiti.
Next, check out the upright swimming pool that’s at Rockefeller Center until June. Get in touch with the author @spencercnyc
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