Gowanus Lounge: Serving Brooklyn

Brownsville Pool Landmarked

September 17th, 2008 · 1 Comment

The Betsey Head Play Center in Brownsville was one of the structures in the city that was landmarked yestrerday. Nine of 11 Robert Moses era pools have now been landmarked and the Red Hook Poll is under consideration. Per CityRoom:

The Betsy Head Play Center is within a 10.5-acre park of the same name that opened in 1914 in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Both the park and play center were named for a Long Island widow who left half of her estate to the city to improve or build parks, playgrounds and bath houses. The park is bounded by Dumont and Livonia avenues to the north and south and Strauss Street and Thomas S. Boyland Street (also known as Hopkinson Avenue) to the west and east. The commission said in a statement:

Designed by John Matthews Hatton, who is responsible for the Astoria Play Center and later worked on commercial storefronts and spaces in New York City, the Betsy Head recreation center is noteworthy for the extensive use of recessed glass-block walls and a rooftop observation gallery with parabolic arches that support a cantilevered canopy on the roof. It opened on Aug. 7, 1936, and was the ninth to open that summer, with a 330-foot-by 165-foot pool that could hold as many as 5,500 swimmers.

McCarren Pool was landmarked last year.

Tags: Brownsville

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Brenda from Flatbush // Sep 17, 2008 at 9:48 am

    Who was Betsy, and why was the pool named after her head? I have always wondered. Some land promontories are called “heads,” but Brownsville seems pretty landlocked.