Huron Street Public Bath

139 Huron Street | Greenpoint | built 1903

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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1903

    Louis H. Voss designs the Huron Street bathhouse in a Greco-Roman civic style

    The Huron Street bathhouse was designed by the Brooklyn architect Louis H. Voss, who also designed the Pitkin Avenue and Montrose Avenue baths. Its Greco-Roman ornament includes classical columns, Roman wreaths and a running Greek key. The original facade had a women's entrance on the left, a men's entrance on the right, and a central door to the offices and public spaces.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  2. 1904

    The Huron Street Public Bath opens, drawing a thousand or more bathers on a given day

    The Brooklyn Public Library says the bath was built in 1903 and opened in 1904 during New York City's public bath movement. Steam heat warmed the building, which held 87 showers and two tubs; men and women used separate entrances on opposite sides. Attendance on a given day could reach a thousand people or more.

    Source: bklynlibrary.org

  3. 1960

    December 12

    The Huron Street Public Bath closes as the last bath of its movement in Brooklyn

    After the state amended its law on maintaining public bathhouses in the mid to late 1950s, city budget cuts and dwindling interest led bathhouses across New York to shutter. The Huron Street bath officially closed on December 12, 1960, after serving Greenpoint for fifty-six years. The Brooklyn Public Library calls it the last public bath in Brooklyn built as part of the movement.

    Source: bklynlibrary.org

  4. 1964

    Arthur Jochnowitz, who bathed here as a boy, buys the closed bathhouse at city auction for $17,500

    The city tried to sell the empty bathhouse but at first no one wanted it. In 1964 Arthur Jochnowitz bought it at a city auction for $17,500 and made it a warehouse. He told the New York Times that his grandfather, his father and he had all used the baths. Brownstoner reports that Jochnowitz or his successors tore down the ornate cornice, cemented in the original entrances and filled in the large windows.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  5. 2018

    January

    Permits show plans to turn the former bathhouse into a four-story residence of nine units

    Building permits in early 2018 showed that the former bathhouse could become a four-story, nine-unit residence. It had been bought in 2016 by Samuel and Christian Pompa, as All Blue Huron LLC, for $4.85 million, and was most recently home to the antique furniture restorers Studio Wood Artesan Corp. A rendering showed that the words Erected and AD 1903 would stay on the facade, along with the columns.

    Source: brownstoner.com

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