It is October, which means it’s Archtober, New York City’s Architecture and Design Month. Archtober is an annual celebration of architecture and design that takes place throughout the month. Organized by the Center for Architecture, in collaboration with over 100 partners and sponsors, the festival offers events ranging from daily building tours and lectures by design experts, to architecture-themed competitions and parties.
Department of Buildings - Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, 1866-1977
The Western Union Telegraph Company Building, 60 Hudson Street, Perspective of Hudson & Thomas Streets, May 29, 1928. New Building application 278 of 1928. Architects: Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker. Department of Buildings - Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 144, Lot 33-56. NYC Municipal Archives.
For the researcher investigating the built environment of New York City, material contained within the Municipal Archives is a gold mine. Recent blogs have described three of these resources, the Assessed Valuation Real Estate Ledgers, the Manhattan Department of Buildings docket books, and the Manhattan building plan collection, part 1, and part 2.
This week’s subject is another series from the Department of Buildings Record Group (025)—the application permit folders, a.k.a. the block and lot folders. The series is a subset of the Department of Buildings Manhattan Building Plan Collection, 1866-1977 (REC 074).
Totaling approximately 1,230 cubic feet, the permit folders provide essential and detailed construction and alteration information for almost every building in lower Manhattan from the Battery to 34th Street. In addition, a wide range of historical subjects can be explored using these records including the effect of planning, zoning and technology on building design, the role of real estate development as a gauge of national economic trends, and the evolution of architectural practice, particularly during the period of professionalization in the latter part of the 19th century.
Established in 1862, the Department of Buildings (DOB) “had full power, in passing upon any question relative to the mode, manner of construction or materials to be used in the erection, alteration or repair of any building in the City of New York.” All DOB personnel were required to be architects, masons, or house carpenters. Then, beginning in 1866, New York City law required that an application, including plans, be submitted to the DOB for approval before a building could be constructed or altered.
The provenance of the collection in the Municipal Archives dates to the 1970s when the DOB began microfilming the application files and plans as a space-saving measure. They intended to dispose of the original materials after microfilming. The project began with records of buildings in lower Manhattan, proceeding northward to approximately 34th Street when it was discovered that the microfilm copies were illegible. The DOB abandoned the project and the original records were transferred to the Municipal Archives for permanent preservation and access.
NB Application 34 of 1890, page 1, for a “Nurse Building” to be appended to the Society of the New York Hospital at 6 West 16th Street. Architect: R. Maynicke for George B. Post. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 817, Lot 29. NYC Municipal Archives.
NB Application 34 of 1890, page 2, for a “Nurse Building” to be appended to the Society of the New York Hospital at 6 West 16th Street. Architect: R. Maynicke for George B. Post. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 817, Lot 29. NYC Municipal Archives.
Most applications are accompanied by a site plan showing the building’s location. Site plan for the “Nurse Building” at 6 West 16th Street. NB Application 34 of 1890. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 817, Lot 29. NYC Municipal Archives.
New Building (NB) Applications
In theory, there should be an NB application for every building constructed after 1866. Unfortunately, prior to the mid-1960s, DOB policy was to dispose of the files of buildings that were demolished. The result is that the Municipal Archives collection generally comprises only records of buildings extant as of the mid-to-late 1970s.
The NB application provides the most complete and detailed information about a structure. The form includes location (street address and block and lot numbers); the owner, architect and/or contractors; dimensions and description of the site; dimensions of the proposed building; estimated cost; the type of building (loft, dwelling factory, tenement, office, etc.); and details of its construction such as materials to be used for the foundation, upper walls, roof and interior. Every NB application was assigned a number, beginning with number one for the first application filed on or after January 1, up to as many as 3,000 or more by December 31, each year.
Specifications form, front NB application 222 of 1919, the Cunard Building, 25 Broadway. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 13, Lot 27. NYC Municipal Archives.
Specifications form, reverse, NB application 222 of 1919, the Cunard Building, 25 Broadway. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 13, Lot 27. NYC Municipal Archives.
As buildings incorporated new technologies such as elevators and steel-frame construction, the approval process became more rigorous, requiring more extensive information about the proposed structure. Permit folders for larger buildings often contain voluminous back-and-forth correspondence between the DOB examiners and the owners and architects. If any part of an NB application was disapproved the owner or architect was obliged to file an “Amendment” form stating what changes would be made to the application so that the building would comply with building codes.
Amendment to NB Application 44 of 1925, filed November 23, 1926 for the building at 35 Wall Street. Each point on the amendment explains how the architects were modifying their plans to meet DOB objections. (Note point no. 4. “The height of the Wall Street front has been altered to meet the requirements of the Building Zone Resolution—Article 3, Section 8. All setbacks have been clearly noted on elevations and setback plan.)” Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 26, Lot 1. NYC Municipal Archives.
Correspondence from the Commissioner of the Department of Public Works in the Office of the President of the Borough of Manhattan, to the Department of Buildings regarding NB application 222 of 1919 (the Cunard Building at 25 Broadway), and possible disruption to sewers and sidewalks, August 21, 1919. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 24, Lot 27. NYC Municipal Archives.
Correspondence from the Zoning Committee to the Department of Buildings regarding the height of the Cunard Building, 25 Broadway, NB application 222 of 1919. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 24, Lot 27. NYC Municipal Archives.
When the DOB approved a NB application, they issued a permit and construction could begin. Periodically during construction, inspections would be made by DOB personnel and their reports would also be included in the application file.
Other Applications
After a building was completed and the final inspection report submitted, any subsequent work on the building would require a separate Alteration (ALT) application. As building technology became more complex, the DOB began to require separate applications for elevator and dumbwaiter installations, plumbing and drainage work, certificates of occupancy and electric signs. The permit files also contain numerous Building Notice (BN) applications pertaining to relatively minor alterations. The DOB also mandated a “Demolition” application to raze buildings. The permit files generally do not include documents related to building violations.
DOB building permit folder, Block 551, Lot 21, 26 West 8th Street. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
The DOB organized all applications and related correspondence into folders according to the block and lot where the building was situated. After 1898, each block in Manhattan was assigned a number, beginning with number 1 at the Battery, and each lot within the block was also assigned a number. The original block and lot filing scheme has been maintained by the Municipal Archives for the block and lot permit collection. An inventory of the permit folder collection is available in the new online Municipal Archives Collection Guides.
The Municipal Archives has also maintained the original permit folders, whenever possible. The folder lists the application paperwork contained within and serves as a table of contents. If paperwork related to an application listed on the folder is missing, it is possible to trace at least basic information about the action using the DOB docket books as described in a recent blog Manhattan Department of Buildings docket books.
American Exchange Irving Trust Company, to the DOB, December 28, 1928, regarding application to the Board of Standards and Appeals. NB application 419 of 1928. Irving Trust Company Building at One Wall Street. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 23, Lot 7. NYC Municipal Archives.
Application for Variation from the Requirements of the Building Zone Resolution filed by the American Exchange Irving Trust Company, for One Wall Street, NB application 419 of 1928. Department of Buildings —Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 23, Lot 7. NYC Municipal Archives. (N.B. The variance was approved.)
Building bulk calculation diagram submitted with Application for Variation from the Requirements of the Building Zone Resolution filed by the American Exchange Irving Trust Company, for One Wall Street, NB application 419 of 1928. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 23, Lot 7. NYC Municipal Archives.
The collection provides detailed data about specific buildings and enables the researcher to explore broader topics. For example, one theme of interest to architectural historians is the impact of New York’s 1916 zoning ordinance. The regulation had been imposed partly in response to construction of the massive Equitable Building on lower Broadway, but more generally to reduce the growing density of the built environment. It is usually argued that the law was responsible for the setback style of New York skyscrapers constructed throughout the 1920s. In an examination of the NB applications for several skyscraper buildings erected before the Depression, such as the Irving Trust tower at 1 Wall Street, it was found that very often the original NB application was disapproved, in part because the building plans violated some part of the 1916 zoning ordinance. In response, however, the architects did not revise their plans, but instead appealed to the City for a variance and invariably received permission to proceed with their original plans.
Application to convert a stable to a sculptors studio, ALT 531 of 1903, no. 26 West 8th Street / 5 McDougall Alley. Department of Buildings—Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 551, Lot 21. NYC Municipal Archives.
The permit folder collection also provides ample opportunity for researchers to study the long tradition of adaptive re-use of buildings in lower Manhattan. Although many of the buildings in these neighborhoods pre-date establishment of the DOB, the collection is rich with applications submitted for later alterations, as architects, homeowners, and developers converted older structures into “modern” dwellings by removing stoops and covering facades with light-colored stucco, mosaic tile, and shutters.
Correspondence from architect Cass Gilbert to DOB, September 22, 1905. NB application 1376 of 1905, 90 West Street Building. Manhattan Block and Lot Collection, Block 56, Lot 4. NYC Municipal Archives.
The permit folders, along with the associated building plans, contain documentation for the study of individual architects, as well as architecture as a profession. Scholars will find an abundance of unique materials that detail the professionalization of the field, especially during the latter half of the 19th century.
Together with the Assessed Valuation of Real Estate ledgers, the several Department of Buildings series—docket books, architectural plans, and the permit folders, provide an unparalleled opportunity for detailed research on the built environment. Few other cities in the nation possess a body of documents whose scope and completeness can compare with these New York City records.
The Manhattan Department of Buildings Docket Book Collection, 1866-1959
This blog will describe the Manhattan DOB docket book collection; future blogs will provide information about extant docket books for the other boroughs.
On June 9, 1977, Eugene J. Bockman, Director of the Municipal Reference and Research Center (and the first Commissioner of the Department of Records and Information Services), wrote to Department of Buildings (DOB) Commissioner Jeremiah T. Walsh alerting him to “. . . a potentially dangerous situation” regarding the DOB docket books dating from 1866 through 1915.
In the 1970s, the DOB was located on the 20th floor of the Municipal Building and the docket books were on open shelves in a public hallway outside their offices. Bockman explained that it had been brought to his attention that the docket books were being “borrowed” for periods of time and not always returned. Bockman offered to house the books in the Municipal Reference and Research Center, located on the 22nd floor of the Municipal Building. He noted that they would be under “constant supervision” by the librarians but still easily accessible to DOB staff and others requiring access.
“The docket books . . . are extremely valuable historical resources,” Bockman added.
Walsh granted Bockman’s request and the pre-1916 docket books were moved to the Library. Three years later, in March 1980, the Municipal Archives accessioned the docket books from the Library. Municipal Archives staff working on the grant-funded Manhattan Building Records project at that time made frequent use of the docket books. In April 1982, the Municipal Archives accessioned the docket books dating from 1916 through 1959 from the DOB. During the 1980s, the Archives solicited donations to re-bind several of the earliest volumes. The Archives microfilmed the entire docket book series in 1989.
Manhattan Department of Buildings Alteration Docket Books. Manhattan Department of Buildings Docket Book Collection, 1866-1959. NYC Municipal Archives.
There are five series in the docket book collection:
New Building Application dockets, 1866-1916, (31 volumes)
New Building Docket Application Index dockets, 1866-1911, (29 volumes)
Alteration Application dockets, 1866-1910, (29 volumes)
Alteration Application Index dockets, 1866-1915, (37 volumes)
Application dockets, 1916-1959, (151 volumes).
On June 4, 1866, the DOB began requiring the filing of written applications, with plans, for the construction of new buildings or alterations to existing structures. They began recording summary information about each application in large, ledger-type books. Prior to 1916, they maintained separate ledgers for new building and alteration applications, and alphabetical indexes to each series.
Left and right pages of the New Building application docket book from 1880. No. 829 is the application to building no. 1 West 72nd Street, later known as the “Dakota” apartment building.
The building application was filed with the “French Flats” classification, a designation the DOB used after 1874 to denote a multi-family dwelling with more amenities designed to appeal to middle-class families. Manhattan Department of Buildings Docket Book Collection, 1866-1959. NYC Municipal Archives.
The New Building and Alteration Application ledgers are organized in column format on two facing pages in two sections; across the top of the page and then continuing across the lower portion. The pre-1916 ledgers record extensive information about each application.
Reading left to right, headings at the top of the left-hand page:
Plan no. /Date Submitted /Location /Street No. /Owner /Architect /Building /Ward No.
Reading left to right, headings at the top of the right-hand page:
Value /Size of Lot /Size of Building /Height in Stories /Foundation Specifications /Upper Walls Specifications /Materials of Front /Type of Roof /Material of Cornice.
Reading left to right, headings at the lower half of the left-hand page:
Plan No. /Iron Shutters /Configuration of Roof /Access to Roof /Type of Walls /Strength of Floors /Trap Doors /Fire Escapes /Type of Furnaces /Type of Building (1st Class Dwelling, 2nd Class Dwelling, etc.)
Reading left to right, headings at the lower half of the right-hand page:
Approved /Not Approved /Amended and Approved /Date Commenced /Date Completed /Name of Inspector /Remarks.
In April 1916, the Manhattan office of the DOB began recording docket book information on 10 ½” square typewritten forms bound into volumes.
The new typewritten form also coincided with an expansion in the number and types of applications recorded in the docket books. In addition to the New Building (NB) and Alteration (ALT) applications, the ledgers also included Demolition Permits (DP), Building Notices for minor work (BN), Electric Sign applications (ES), Dumbwaiter installations (DW), Sign Applications (SA), Computations (determination of safe floor loads), Elevators (sometimes accompanying alteration or new building applications), and Plumbing & Drainage Applications (P &D).
New Building (NB) Applications filed April 23, 1931. These entries include the first building applications for Rockefeller Center, including the RCA Building (NB 77 of 1931) and an early, unbuilt version of Radio City Music Hall (NB 78 of 1931). The entry is the only extant government record for this structure since the application itself was disposed when it was withdrawn. Manhattan Department of Buildings Docket Book Collection, 1866-1959. NYC Municipal Archives.
The typewritten format adopted by the DOB in 1916 improved legibility and permitted more narrative accounts, especially important for alteration applications. Alteration application 176 of 1931 pertaining to 35 Beekman Place is an example. It had been built as a private residence in 1866, and later altered to a tenement (i.e. multi-family dwelling) when the area became less desirable. As recorded in the 1931 application, the building would be altered back to a single- family residence in keeping with the revival of Beekman and Sutton Places as fashionable residential neighborhoods. Manhattan Department of Buildings Docket Book Collection, 1866-1959. NYC Municipal Archives.
New Building Application Index, 1880. Manhattan Department of Buildings Docket Book Collection, 1866-1959. NYC Municipal Archives.
There are several ways to find a docket book entry.
If the New Building application dates between 1866 and 1911, or the Alteration application dates between 1866 and 1915, the index volumes can be searched to identify the application number and relevant entry in the NB or ALT dockets. The indexes are based on location—i.e. street address of the building. In many instances, the location is rendered in distance from a street or avenue. For example an entry in the 1880 NB index for the letter “E” written as “83 S.S. 125’ W. 10th” translates to: 83rd Street, South Side, 125-feet west of 10th Avenue. It is also important to note that street names may have changed in the succeeding decades. For example, the Dakota Apartment building, is listed on the 1880 index under the letter “E” for Eighth Avenue; the name change to Central Park West did not take place until the 20th century.
Another avenue to identifying application numbers is the Department of Building’s website. Entering building address or block and lot numbers into the search box on their Building Information System (BIS) brings up a “Property Profile Overview.” At the bottom of that screen there is a “select from list” box where the application type, e.g. NB—New Building, can be chosen. After clicking “show actions” the relevant New Building application number will appear in the search results. Using the Dakota apartment building again as an example, entering the current address, 1 West 72nd Street results in NB 829-80* in the search result. (The asterisk indicates the date is 1880, not 1980.)
Another approach is using the searchable database created by the Office for Metropolitan History (OMH). Founded in 1975 by the late Christopher Gray, an architectural historian and journalist (he wrote the popular “Streetscapes” column in the Real Estate section of The New York Times from 1987 to 2014), the OMH website is another excellent resource for identifying New Building applications filed after 1900. The OMH data was entered from building application information published in the Real Estate Record and Builders Guide. Digitized copies of the Real Estate Record, 1868 through 1922, are available from Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections. Although the online Real Estate Record is not a particularly user-friendly tool, it is still a great resource for the pre-1900 information not available in the OMH database.
New Building Applications Filed March 30, 1922. Application no. 188 for a two-story fireproof garage. It was designed by architect Hector C. Hamilton. Manhattan Department of Buildings Docket Book Collection, 1866-1959. NYC Municipal Archives.
Tunnel Garage, 1940 Tax Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
The OMH database is particularly useful for researching demolished buildings, or finding information that isn’t on the DOB website. In 2006, a building known as the “Tunnel Garage,” located on Broome Street, near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, was demolished despite a vigorous campaign by preservationists. According to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the garage had been admired for its “bold graphic lettering, its green and orange terra cotta ornamental accents, its original casement windows, and its striking rounded corner.” It fell into disrepair during the 1980s and was replaced by a nine-story luxury condo. Perhaps tenants of the new building might want to know something about what previously stood on the site. If they did, the answer is readily available by entering address data into the OMH database: NB application: no. 188 of 1922.
The Municipal Archives’ related collection, the Manhattan DOB ‘block and lot folder’ series also serves as an option for identifying application numbers for buildings in lower Manhattan, below block 965. As described in previous blogs [add link], the “block and lot folder” portion of the DOB collection contains the original written applications. Most folders show the application contents listed by application number. But if the application is missing from the folder, the docket books can at least supply summary information.
In addition to providing information about specific buildings, the docket books serve to document the work of architects practicing in the city, and general research on the built environment. Mosette Broderick, Clinical Professor of Art History, New York University, spent many hours at the Archives in the early 1980s reviewing all the New Building and Alteration docket books from 1866 through 1910. “I learned how the city grew,” Professor Broderick remembered in a recent conversation. By tracking new building location information in the dockets she could see patterns of development. She also added that she discovered several smaller, less well-known projects by the renowned architect Stanford White in the dockets.
Eugene Bockman’s remark about the importance of the docket books was accurate and prescient. They have served generations of researchers and future digitization (they are on the priority list) will enhance their significance.
Building Histories, The Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital and the Rivington Street Bath
In last week’s blog, Amy Stecher adapted her “Lunch and Learn” presentation about the Manhattan Building Plan collection project. This week, co-presenter Alexandra Hilton highlights two architecturally significant buildings documented in the collection – the Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital and the Rivington Street Bath. Future blogs will feature the plans of other unique buildings that have been identified in the processing project.
Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital
Psychopathic Building, Bellevue and Allied Hospitals, architects’ rendering, 1927. Department of Public Charities and Hospitals Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital, as it was called at the time, was built in 1931 by Charles B. Meyers in the Italian Renaissance style. The building is still standing alongside the East River on First Avenue between 29th and 30th Streets, occupying an entire city block. When constructed, it joined the growing Bellevue hospital complex, and was intended to match the existing buildings, which were designed by architects McKim, Mead & White – same color brick, embellished with granite base course, limestone and terra cotta trimmings. By then, McKim, Mead & White was barely active; Meyers had just designed the Tammany Hall building and was a favorite of then-Mayor Jimmy Walker.
Manhattan Block 958. Bromley Atlas, 1955. New York Public Library.
Prior to its construction, Bellevue’s mental-health facilities were part of the main hospital and included an 1879 “pavilion for the insane,” and an alcoholic ward was added in 1892. Dr. Menas Gregory, a well-known psychiatrist who spent his career working in Bellevue’s psychiatric division, is credited with the idea for a psychiatric building after a trip to inspect similar institutions in Europe – a “Temple of Mental Health,” as he called it. Wanting to create a very clean and stately environment for the new hospital was right on brand for Dr. Gregory. In his position, he had already changed the terminology – preferring “psychopathic” to the word “insane,” thinking this would help make the patients seem curable. He had also removed the iron bars from the old pavilion’s windows and had lessened the use of narcotics and physical restraints on the patients. Dr. Gregory was seen as a good guy in the field, at a time when most medical professionals were largely ignorant about mental illness.
Psychopathic Hospital, Department of Hospitals, Charles B. Meyers, elevation, 1929, blueprint. Manhattan Building Plan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Before the hospital was built, The New York Times said it would be “one of the finest hospitals in the world for the treatment of mental disorders” and “thoroughly modern” at a cost of $3,000,000. (Unsurprisingly, by the time it was finished, the cost would be $4,300,000 ($66,000,000 today). It was designed as a single building with three separate units: 1) 10-stories to house administrative services, doctors’ offices, labs and a library; 2) 8-stories, for mild cases; 3) 8-stories, for more advanced cases. There were facilities for recreation and occupational therapy; physio-, electro- and hydro-therapy; an out-patient clinic; teaching facilities for medical students, and a special research clinic for the study and treatment of delinquency, crime and behavior problems, in collaboration with the Department of Correction, Criminal Courts and Probation Bureau.
Bellevue Hospital complex with new psychopathic building at right, October 31, 1934. Borough President Manhattan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Rooms were designed to house either one, two or three patients at a time. In a Mental Hygiene Bulletin, it was written that “special consideration has been given in the plans to incorporate within the building the appearance and aspect of home or normal living conditions with simple decorations and color tones believed to have the most soothing effect upon the patient.” One hundred of the six hundred beds were dedicated for the study and treatment of children, under the supervision of the Department of Education.
Completing the building was nothing short of dramatic and filled with accusations of corruption and mismanagement. Its lavish exterior juxtaposed against the great depression couldn’t have been more tone deaf to the city’s residents. When ground was broken on June 18, 1930, it was thought the building would be completed at the end of 1931. Almost a year later, in February 1931, the cornerstone was just being laid. Delays were plentiful. It reportedly took a year to choose the architect and another year to draw the plans, and then, according to the Acting Commissioner of Hospitals, “after the contractor had collected all the funds he could get, he left for Europe.”
Psychopathic Hospital, Department of Hospitals, Charles B. Meyers, first floor plan, 1929, blueprint. Manhattan Building Plan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital, Manhattan Block 958, Lot 1, 1940. Tax Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The hospital partially opened in May 1933 with the 600-bed facility only ready for 375 patients. A formal dedication occurred later that year in November, where tribute was paid to Dr. Gregory for his vision. Dr. Gregory resigned from his post in 1934, amid an investigation of his division by the Commissioner of Hospitals, Dr. S. S. Goldwater. This formed a spectacular tit-for-tat-type relationship between Dr. Gregory and Dr. Goldwater, which The New York Times covered extensively. Dr. Gregory died in 1941.
Over the years, the building went from temple of health to a scary place you didn’t want to go, and was the subject of many films, novels and exposes. The hospital saw many celebrity patients. Norman Mailer was sent there after stabbing his wife in a drunken rage. William Burroughs after he chopped off his own finger to impress someone. Eugene O’Neill had several stays in the alcoholic ward. Sylvia Plath came after a nervous breakdown. And infamous criminals like George Metesky the “Mad Bomber,” and John Lennon’s assassin, Mark David Chapman, were briefly committed to the hospital.
In 1984, the city began transitioning the building into a homeless shelter and intake center, but much of it was left empty. Around 2008, a proposal to turn the building into a hotel surfaced. To developers, the building was naturally suited to such a use, given the H-shaped layout with long hallways and small rooms.
Rivington Baths
The Rivington Street Bath House at 326 Rivington Street, later renamed the Baruch Bath House, was the first in the city to be built with public funds. The ground-breaking for the bathhouse took place in December 1897; it opened on March 23, 1901.
Public Bath Building, Rivington Street, Cady, Berg & See, South Elevation, 1897, ink on linen. Manhattan Building Plan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Architects Cady, Berg & See designed the large, neoclassical building. They had become the go-to designers for municipal bath houses after the success of the People’s Bath, a public bath that had been privately funded by the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor (the AICP). The People’s Bath opened in 1891 at 9 Centre Market Place, near Broome Street, on the block where the old Police Headquarters building still stands. The architects and Dr. Simon Baruch, regarded as the “father of the public bath movement in the United States,” were keen on German design and their widespread use of showers – which, at the time, were referred to as rain baths or ring showers because of the circular shower head, designed to keep hair dry. The Germans were using showers for mass bathing situations, such as in military barracks. Showers were cheaper to build, easier to keep clean, used less water and could get people in and out faster, and became the staple of bathhouses.
Dr. Simon Baruch, who the Rivington Street Bathhouse was eventually named after, emigrated from Germany to South Carolina when he was a teenager. He studied medicine and joined the Civil War as a surgeon on the confederate side. Captured at the Battle of Gettysburg, he was held as a prisoner of war for the duration of the conflict. He made his way to New York City in 1881, served as a physician on the Lower East Side, and achieved prominence in the New York medical field.
Manhattan Block 324, 1891, Bromley Atlas, New York Public Library
Dr. Baruch began advocating for public bathhouses in 1889. He was big on hydrotherapy, at the time a new concept in the United States, and this guided many of his endeavors. Municipal officials weren’t as sold on this concept that poor sanitation would equal poor physical health, but Baruch was tireless in promoting the utility of water and importance of a public bath system. For some reason, he was in the minority – even though in 1894, only 306 out of 255,000 tenements in New York City had bathtubs. “The people won’t bathe,” said then-Mayor Hugh Grant. But by 1895, Baruch finally convinced the State Legislature to pass a law that mandated cities with a population greater than 50,000 to establish and maintain free bath facilities.
Logistics around the new bath law and facilitation of public bathhouses caused some lag. One of the hiccups concerned their locations. Tompkins Square Park on the Lower East Side, then a predominantly German and Irish neighborhood, had been chosen as the location for the first bath. The residents couldn’t have been less thrilled by this prospect. They did not want to be living in the community thought to be so poor that they needed a public bath. Essentially, they said it should go to the newer Jewish and Italian immigrant communities, located further south. And they did not want the bathhouse to take away from their already too-little park space. Their opposition was heard; Tompkins Square was no longer a contender. There was also a question of whether public baths even had to be located in parks; the mayor and his committee on public baths thought it did; Baruch said they did not. Somehow, they came over to Baruch’s side and the spot on Rivington Street, already owned by the city, was chosen.
Public Bath Building, Rivington Street, Cady, Berg & See, First floor plan; showers and waiting area for men and women, 1897, ink on linen. Manhattan Building Plan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Public Bath Building, Rivington Street, Cady, Berg & See, Longitudinal section, baths on upper floors, 1897, ink on linen. Manhattan Building Plan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The style of the Rivington Street Bathhouse influenced the style of subsequently built baths in the city. William Paul Gerhard, author of Modern Baths and Bath Houses (1908), said that the exterior of a people’s bath – or public bath – should be easily recognizable so it would be easily found. But he also warned that it shouldn’t be so lavish that the poor wouldn’t want to come. The Rivington Street bath design wasn’t exactly modest and met criticism for its extravagance and cost—eventually totaling more than $95,000 ($2,995,000 in today’s dollars). Of course, after its immediate success, the AICP recommended that another 16 bathhouses be built to the same specifications, saying it was actually more economical to build (cost less per shower compartment) and to maintain for the long haul. They aimed for the ancient Roman public bath-look with classical pilasters, columns, arches and cornices, constructed with hefty materials like brick, terra cotta, stone marble and copper, and with ornamental iron work. Whatever its appearance, the bathing experience was pretty much the same throughout the city’s bathhouses.
Public Bath Building, Rivington Street, Cady, Berg & See, Plumbing plan, 1897, ink on linen. Manhattan Building Plan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Public Bath Building, Rivington Street, Cady, Berg & See, Longitudinal section, 1897, ink on linen. Manhattan Building Plan Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
At Rivington Street, the three-and-a-half story building was divided into two spaces for a dedicated men’s and women’s area, each with a waiting room. The men’s area was about 2/3 of the building with 45 rain baths, or, showers; the women had 22. A handful of bathtubs were on the upper floors. Each bath cubicle was divided into two parts – a dressing area and a shower, separated by a curtain. When a patron entered the bathhouse, they were given a number, and then they would wait for their number to be called for the next available cubicle. They usually had 20 minutes to undress, bathe and redress – Rivington had the capacity to accommodate 3,000 bathers per day on this timetable. Attendants controlled the water temperature, which ranged between 73 to 105 degrees F, and the duration of the shower – I’m sure it will come to no surprise to learn that the attendants soon began running a scheme, where patrons could sneak them five cents for a limitless bath time. Eventually they got caught and were fired. Pools were later added to the complex in 1917.
Rivington Street Bath, Manhattan Block 324, Lot 36, 1940 Tax Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
In 1939, Bernard Baruch, Dr. Baruch’s son, donated the land around the bathhouse to the city, and jurisdiction of the building went to the Parks Department. They renovated the bathhouse as a recreation center and added Baruch Playground. In the 1950s, the New York City Housing Authority built Baruch Houses, Manhattan’s largest public housing complex adjacent to the bathhouse. By 1975, the city’s fiscal crisis forced the facility to close, and has pretty much sat unused
The Manhattan Building Plans Project, 1977-2018
On Monday, July 2, 2018, the Municipal Archives began working on a project first envisioned more than 40 years ago—inventorying and re-housing architectural plans for buildings in lower Manhattan. Digitizing selected plans, not envisioned 40 years ago, will be part of the new project. Saved from near destruction in the 1970s, and containing materials spanning more than one hundred years, City archivists are looking forward to discovering long-hidden treasures and preserving this significant historical and cultural collection.