Jacob Riis Park Bathhouse
402 Garage Beach 169th Street | Jacob Riis Park-Fort Tilden-Breezy Point Tip
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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.
- 1932
Riis Park's bathhouse opens to swimmers while still only partly built
Queens Parks Commissioner Albert C. Benninger proposed a bathing pavilion in fall 1930, inspired by Robert Moses's bathhouse at Jones Beach; until then, beachgoers had changed clothes in their cars. Architect John L. Plock drew the plans, construction started on November 23, 1931, and the bathhouse opened on August 6, 1932, about 60 percent finished. Lockers, a restaurant and a rooftop solarium, expected at the time to be the world's largest, followed in May 1933.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1937
Robert Moses has the Moorish-style bathhouse redone with Art Deco features
Plock's 1932 design was Moorish and Byzantine, and the beach-facing pavilion originally had an arcade of Moorish arches. During the 1936-1937 Works Progress Administration project, Clinton Loyd reconfigured the bathhouse with Art Deco and Art Moderne elements, a change reportedly driven by Moses being "annoyed" by the Moorish details. The front entry pavilion kept its Moorish and Byzantine features, and after the work the whole structure was painted light gray.
“The alteration in architectural style is said to have been brought on by Robert Moses being "annoyed" by the bathhouse's original Moorish elements.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1991
A $20 million rescue of the decaying bathhouse begins and is never finished
By May 1988, when the National Park Service proposed leasing the building to private developers, the bathhouse's showers and changing rooms had already closed. A $20 million rehabilitation that included removing asbestos got under way in 1991, but it was never completed, and the bathhouse stayed shut and kept decaying. By 2001 Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Anthony Weiner had secured $4 million more in federal money, most of it aimed at renovating the bathhouse.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2026
The restored bathhouse reopens as the Rockaway Ocean Club
After repairs in 2015 and 2016, the National Park Service sought proposals to reuse the entry pavilion and bathhouse, and in 2022 the developer CBSK was hired to turn it into a private club and hotel, with Beyer Blinder Belle as renovation architect. Following an $88 million restoration, the building opened in July 2026 as the Rockaway Ocean Club, with the private club the first part to open. Plans also call for a 28-room hotel, a rooftop restaurant and concessions.
“Following an $88 million restoration, the bathhouse opened in July 2026 as the Rockaway Ocean Club.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Jacob Riis Park BathhouseWikipedia