Tompkinsville (Joseph H. Lyons) Pool – Exterior and Interior

The Tompkinsville (Joseph H. Lyons) Pool is one of a group of eleven immense outdoor swimming pools opened in the summer of 1936 in a series of grand ceremonies presided over by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Park Commissioner Robert Moses. All of the pools were constructed largely with funding provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), one of many New Deal agencies created in the 1930s to address the Great Depression.

Designed by Joseph L. Hautman, the Tompkinsville Pool is set on a small swath of land on the east shore of Staten Island between the Staten Island Railway track and the waterfront. The streamlined and curvilinear form of the Art Moderne-style bath house met the low-cost material criteria stipulated by the WPA while still presenting an attractive design.

STATUS Designated Exterior and Interior Landmark

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City Lore, Folklorist
Bronx Music Heritage Center, Co-Artistic Director

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