Moses built monumental stone bathhouses to serve the masses at public beaches
Evidence
These were going to contain ten thousand lockers apiece. In addition to bathrooms and shower rooms, they were going to contain wading pools, diving pools and swimming pools, and the swimming pools were going to be large enough to accommodate hundreds of bathers at a time. There were going to be canopied terraces above the pools so people could sit in the shade and watch the swimmers, and there were going to be other terraces on which people could dine at tables set beneath gaily colored umbrellas. The bathhouses were going to contain solaria. They were going to contain restaurants in every price range. Although they were at a bathing beach, they were going to be constructed not of wood but of stone and brick, and the stone and brick were going to be of the finest quality. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 977
Categorization
- SHARE: For anyone writing about Robert Moses or NY public works: his vision of the beach bathhouse as a classless palace of stone.
- XREF: connects to: Moses built public works at a time no other city could — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 57; A deserted millionaire estate became Moses’s template for public recreation land — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 722; Moses turned New York garbage dumps and mud flats into hundreds of parks — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 48 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Moses built public works at a time no other city could
#expands(0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 57 - Moses turned New York garbage dumps and mud flats into hundreds of parks
#expands(0.80) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 48 - Moses rejected monumental stodginess in favor of joyful beach architecture
#complicates(0.80) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 977 - Moses designed each park building to fit its distinct local setting
#complicates(0.76) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 1617 - Moses explored inaccessible water lands using official leverage and a chauffeur
#expands(0.74) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 701 - A deserted millionaire estate became Moses’s template for public recreation land
#expands(0.72) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 722