Hamilton Fish Park is a public park on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Named after former New York governor Hamilton Fish, the park was built on two blocks bounded by Houston, Pitt, Sheriff, and Stanton Streets. It contains a playground, basketball courts, and an outdoor swimming complex with general swimming and wading pools. Hamilton Fish Park also includes a Beaux-Arts recreation center designed by Carrère and Hastings. It is maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks). The park was planned during the late 19th century to alleviate overcrowded living conditions on the Lower East Side. The park and recreation building opened in 1900 as a landscaped park designed by Carrère and Hastings. The original design was reconfigured to accommodate more active recreation uses. The pool was built during a Works Progress Administration project in 1935–1936. The recreation center was made a New York City designated landmark in 1982, and the park was restored in the 1990s.
Description
Hamilton Fish Park is on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by Stanton Street, the Gompers Houses, and the Masaryk Towers to the south; Pitt Street to the west; Houston Street to the north; and the NEST+m campus and the New York Public Library's Hamilton Fish Park Branch to the east. The park covers 4.30 acres (1.74 ha). When completed in 1900, Hamilton Fish Park had been bisected by Willett Street, which ran from north to south; the two city blocks were ultimately combined. Hamilton Fish Park's eastern boundary was originally Sheriff Street, which was eliminated in 1959. The western end of Hamilton Fish Park contains the Hamilton Fish Recreation Center, a Beaux-Arts brick-and-limestone building on Pitt Street. The center of the park contains the pool complex, while the remainder of the park is devoted to other recreational facilities. Much of the space in Hamilton Fish Park consists of decks or paths with red brick pavers reflecting the design of the recreation center. A steel fence with shrubbery encloses the park. There are two entrances: one through the Hamilton Fish Recreation Center and the other at the corner of Pitt and Houston Streets.
Recreational facilities Hamilton Fish Park's recreational facilities take up much of its area. The largest facility is the pool area at the center of the park, which is aligned from west to east, with two pools. South of the pool area, the eastern part of the park contains two basketball courts and four handball courts. North of the pool area is a playground.
Pools The Hamilton Fish Pool complex, designed by Aymar Embury II, was one of 11 WPA pools in New York City completed in 1936. With a capacity of 1,700 or 2,200, the Hamilton Fish Pool complex was relatively small compared to the other WPA pools in the city. The complex is also known locally as the "Pitt Pool". The main pool, in the center of the park, is rectangular and measures about 165 by 98 feet (50 by 30 m), with a capacity of 485,000 U.S. gallons (1,840,000 L; 404,000 imp gal). Its depth varies from 3.5 to 4.5 feet (1.1 to 1.4 m). The nearly semicircular pool to the west measures 98 feet across at its eastern end, with a length of 67 feet (20 m). This pool was originally a diving pool with a depth of 11.5 feet (3.5 m), holding some 375,000 U.S. gallons (1,420,000 L; 312,000 imp gal). In a 1992 renovation, it was converted into a children's pool 2.5 inches (64 mm) deep. There was previously also a wading pool in the park's northeastern corner, measuring 50 by 100 feet (15 by 30 m). The pools are surrounded by a red tile promenade 25 feet (7.6 m) wide. There were originally bleachers flanking the diving pool, which were removed in the 1992 renovation. The eastern, or rear, portion of the pool area contains Beaux-Arts maintenance facilities, including a filter house measuring 34 by 122 feet (10 by 37 m). Surrounding the pool area are lockers.
Recreation center
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