11 WPA-Era Pools Were La Guardia's, Moses' Gift
BY LINDA J. WILSON

Youngsters await the opening of Astoria Pool.

Almost as soon as he was elected mayor of New York City in 1934, Fiorello La Guardia named Robert Moses his commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation. Moses began to assess the state of the city's parks and plan for their future as soon as La Guardia announced his intention to appoint him as Parks Commissioner. Moses quickly hired a consulting engineer and three assistant engineers to survey every park and parkway in the city. The survey was completed by the time he took office in midJanuary 1934. By the summer of 1934, hundreds of projects, covering virtually every neighborhood in the city, had been completed. Structures were repainted, tennis courts resurfaced, and lawns reseeded. Hundreds of new construction projects were either underway or being designed, among them the Astoria Park Pool.

The Astoria Pool and Play Center, at 54,450 square feet, the city's largest public pool, was used to host the swimming, water polo and diving trials for the United States Olympic Team prior to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. It is one of a group of 11 immense new outdoor swimming pools that opened in the summer of 1936 in a series of grand ceremonies presided over by La Guardia and Robert Moses. All were constructed mainly with funds provided by the WPA. Designed to accommodate a total of 49,000 users simultaneously at locations scattered across the entire city and completed just two and a half years after La Guardia took office, the new pool complexes completely dwarfed the city's two preexisting outdoor public pools and gained quick recognition as being among the most remarkable public recreational facilities ever constructed in this country. Moses, an avid swimmer, was known to have taken a special interest in the design and construction of bathing and swimming facilities, such as Jones Beach, Orchard Beach and Riis Park, as well as the neighborhood swimming pools, including Astoria Pool. As a result, the design and execution of New York City's aquatic facilities in the 1930s were a cut above most other park projects at the time.

Each pool complex was to have separate swimming, diving and wading pools and a large bathhouse, the locker room sections of which doubled as gymnasiums during non-swimming months. Concrete bleachers at the perimeter of the pools would furnish spectator viewing areas to be augmented at some sites with rooftop promenades and galleries. There would be a minimum width for the decks to provide enough room for sunbathing and circulation. At least one dimension of each swimming pool would have to be a multiple of 55 yards to allow swimming competitions to be held at standard distances in either English or metric systems. Plus, the complexes had to share lowcost building materials, principally brick and cast concrete, as required by the federal government.

The pools were also distinguished by innovative mechanical systems to heat, filter, and circulate the vast amounts of water they used. The pool complexes' landscape settings included additional recreational areas, connecting pathway systems and comfort stations.

Despite the fact that the basic components were essentially the same and that the WPA required that only the cheapest materials be used, the Astoria swimming pool complex, like its 10 counterparts, is especially notable for its distinctive and unique setting, appearance and character. On June 20, 2006, not quite a month before the 70th anniversary of its July 2, 1936 opening day, the Astoria Park Pool and Play Center, along with the Orchard Beach Bathhouse and Promenade in The Bronx, was designated a landmark by unanimous vote of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, citing the superb design, setting and scale of both facilities.

On view from July 13 to September 7, at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, "Splash! A 70th Anniversary Celebration of New York City's WPA-Era Pools" features vintage photographs that represent the 11 outdoor public pools that New York City opened in the summer of 1936. Also included in the show are never-before-exhibited historic color films, contemporary photographs and two bronze eagles that once ornamented the now defunct McCarren Pool. The Arsenal Gallery is located on the third floor of Parks Department Headquarters in Central Park, on Fifth Avenue at 64th Street. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is closed on September 4. Admission is free.