Crotona Play Center
in United StatesCategory: Attraction
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1700 Fulton Avenue, Bronx, NY 10457, USA Print route »
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Crotona Play Center is the only swimming pool complex built by the Works Progress Administration in the Bronx. It opened in July 1936. Named for the ancient Greek city of Croton, it is located in Crotona Park on property which was formerly the estate of the Bathgate family. It was designated a New York City landmark in 2007.The Crotona Play Center was completed during the tenure of influential New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. Herbert Magoon and others shared credit as the architect, Aymar Embury II was the consulting architect, and Gilmore D. Clarke and others were the landscape architects. Its design combines Art Moderne and Modern Classical elements. The primary buildings are decorated with sculptures by Frederick Roth, including ibis - topped pilasters on the bathhouse and bas-reliefs in the sitting niches which are adjacent to the pool.
The facility is entered through a very large arched brick gateway, which is overlooked by glass-block skylights. A large bathhouse is situated between the pool and a wading pool area used at an earlier time. The interior of the bathhouse is admirable, with mirror-image locker rooms and arched concrete buttresses extending across overhead.
The facility has been run by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation since its construction. It was restored by the city in 1984 and continues to function as a swimming pool and bathhouse.
