Public Bath No. 7
227 4th Avenue | Park Slope | built 1910
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1910
Public Bath No. 7 opens at Fourth Avenue and President Street after four years of construction
Work on the city bathhouse began in 1906, but construction delays held back its opening until 1910. It served the crowded tenement blocks beside the Gowanus Canal's industrial and warehouse zone. Before it opened it was called the most ornate of the borough's public baths, and it was the first in Brooklyn with a swimming pool.
- 1910
Raymond F. Almirall gives the bathhouse a white-glazed neo-Renaissance front with sea-god ornament
Almirall faced the principal story in white-glazed brick, a bright contrast with the red brick rowhouses nearby, above a podium of terra-cotta piers finished to suggest limestone. The parapet piers carry blue-glazed urn mouths with green streams pouring down, and blue terra-cotta panels show Triton with his trident. The words "Public Bath" are lettered into the Fourth Avenue parapet.
- 1910
The baths put a pool in the basement and showers on two floors above
Inside, the pool, laundry and service area sat at basement level. The entry floor held a central office, waiting rooms for men and women, and a balcony around the pool with 34 shower units. The floor above had 30 showers for women, 41 for men and nine tubs.
“On the floor above there were 30 showers for women, 41 for men and a total of 9 tubs.”
- 1937
The bathhouse is converted into a gymnasium
In 1937 the former bathhouse was converted into a gymnasium. Brownstoner's Suzanne Spellen notes that by the time it opened, the tenement laws had changed to require bathtubs and toilets, which left the bath less needed than planned.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1984
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates Public Bath No. 7 as a landmark
The commission called the bathhouse one of the few survivors of what was described in 1912 as the world's largest municipal system of free public baths. It also credited the colored terra-cotta ornament as a signature work of its architect, Raymond F. Almirall. The designation covers the whole lot at Fourth Avenue and President Street.
- 1994
The sealed bathhouse is bought in 1994 and becomes the Brooklyn Lyceum
After landmarking the building was sealed and left empty. A buyer purchased it in 1994 and work resumed, and it later became the Brooklyn Lyceum, a venue for concerts, fitness and events.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 2014
Greystone buys the building for $7.6 million after a foreclosure auction
The building was put up at a foreclosure auction in early 2013, and Greystone bought it the next year for $7.6 million. In 2015 the previous owner, Eric Richmond, sued, claiming it had been auctioned illegally even though he had appealed the bankruptcy judge's ruling to auction the property.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2018
A restored Public Bath No. 7 sells for $10 million with a Blink Fitness inside
Restoration of the landmark finished in 2017. It sold the following year for $10 million, and at the time of the sale it housed a Blink Fitness gym.
“In 2017, the building finished restoration. The building was sold for $10 million in 2018; at the time, it contained a Blink Fitness location.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Public Bath No. 7Wikipedia
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