- City:
- Brooklyn, New York City, NY
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Swimming Pools, Bathhouses
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Completed:
- 1936
- Designer:
- Aymar Embury II
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation explains that:
“McCarren Pool was the eighth of eleven giant pools built by the Works Progress Administration to open during the summer of 1936. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia attended the dedication on July 31, 1936. With an original capacity for 6800 swimmers, the pool served as the summertime social hub for Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The building’s vast scale and dramatic arches, designed by Aymar Embury II, typify the expansive and heroic spirit of New Deal architecture. The pool was closed in 1984 but in 2005 the site was resurrected as a performance space, first through a modern-dance performance by Noemie Lafrance, and subsequently as a world-renowned music venue that saw many high-profile concerts until the summer of 2008, when Parks began work to renovate the pool.” (NYCDPR)
The pool was reopened in 2012 “…as a center for year-round recreation for the residents of northern Brooklyn. The rehabilitation of the Pool preserved the historic bathhouse building and entry arch.” (McCarren Pool)
Source notes
New York City Parks: "McCarren Park", last accessed January 2016
"McCarren Park Pool", last accessed January 2016
"Race, Place, and Play: Robert Moses and the WPA Swimming Pools in New York City"
Department of Parks, Press Release, July 30, 1936
Site originally submitted by Shaina Potts on November 11, 2012.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.
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