Red Hook Play Center (Sol Goldman Pool)
This facility was landmarked in 2008.
This 47 page report was submitted to the Landmarks Preservation Commission in an effort to give the Red Hook Play Center official landmark status.
The site included the former diving (now wading) pool, bleachers, comfort station, storage house, perimeter brick and steel fencing, and landscaped seating areas flanking the northern end of the pool complex.
Seven witnesses spoke in favor of designation, including Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and representatives of the Municipal Art Society of New York, the Historic Districts Council, the Society for the Architecture of the City, and the New York Landmarks Conservancy. There were no speakers in opposition to designation.
The center includes one of eleven immense swimming pools built with funding from the WPA. The report includes a history of Red Hook, this site, and also architectural details of its interior and exterior facades.
Post from the NYC Department of Records
An interesting history of the pool with many vintages photos can be be found in this 2017 essay: "Making a Splash in Red Hook: How the Vast Red Hook Pool and Play Center Came to Be".Today in 1937 - swimming pool at the Red Hook Recreation Area #thisdayinhistory pic.twitter.com/jmnZ14ioG3
— NYC Dept of Records (@nycrecords) July 18, 2017
