6. McCarren Pool Tunnels
McCarren Pool is best known as northern Brooklyn’s biggest public pool. It was built in 1936 as one of eleven public pools built with WPA funding. These massive pools were built with enormous filtration and heating systems, along with underwater lighting. Unlike its counterparts, McCarren Pool did not undergo renovations in the 1980s, causing it to fall into disrepair and eventually closed in 1984. After its restoration, McCarren Pool reopened in 2012.
To support its behind-the-scenes infrastructure, McCarren Pool features a rarely seen tunnel network that rings the perimeter of the pool, connecting a former boiler room under the entrance arches to the filtration plant in the rear. In its prime, the tunnels greeted the pool’s employees who sought the boiler room and other hidden infrastructure.