Cited from Landmarks Preservation Commission March 18, 2008, Designation List 402 LP-2252
Visit Eddie Adams archive at the Briscoe Center Visit the Eddie Adams Workshop
All About Bathhouse
The Former Free Public Baths of the City of New York at 538 East 11th Street is a beautifully preserved and restored building with a rich history. Built between 1904 and 1905 in the Neo-Italian Renaissance style, the structure was designed by prominent architect Arnold W. Brunner.
Under response to political pressure from progressive reformers and charitable organizations, the city opened 14 free public baths between 1901 and 1914 throughout crowded tenement districts to provide the poor with bathing facilities that were non-existent in their own apartments.
The baths closed in 1958 and the building was used as a garage and warehouse until 1995. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Eddie Adams and his wife Alyssa Adams bought and converted the building into a photography studio. Adams passed away in 2004 but his legacy lives on through the Eddie Adams Photojournalism Workshop and his photo collection which is housed at the Briscoe Center at the University of Texas at Austin.