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Bathhouse Row History

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Have you ever wanted to take a bath with other people? Now that might sound very disturbing, but you would be in separate bath tubs, that is beginning to sound a little better, but you would probably still want a separate room for privacy. Well you wouldn’t get that kind of privacy if you went to Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs, Arkansas that provide bathing and therapeutic practices.
Bathhouse Row is a line of bathhouses located in Hot Springs National Park. These bathhouses were included with four parcels to preserve 47 natural hot springs in 1832. The first bathhouses were log and wood-frame structures, built from 1830 to the late 19th century. People would go here to bath in the natural springs, because it was soothing for therapeutic uses. …show more content…

The bathhouse ended in 1984. It reopened in July of 2008 as Quapaw Baths & Spa. The bathhouse was built on a site of two earlier bathhouses, the Horseshoe and the Magnesia. There was a capacity of 40 tubs and was to handle three times more bathers than the Hale or Superior. It closed in 1968 but then was reopened as Health Services, Inc. with only 20 tubs. Services were more towards hydrotherapy and physical therapy. It was also the only bathhouse to be open on evenings and weekends. In 1984 it was closed to the discovery of damage to the ceiling and skylights. Work began in 2007 to remodel it and to install new pools for whole families to enjoy the spring water together and was finished in summer 2008.
The next bathhouse, Fordyce, is now a visitor center since 1989. This bathhouse was the most expensive and intricate of them all. The total cost was around $212,749.55. Fordyce was also the first bathhouse to close on June 29, 1962 due to the decline of popularity of therapeutic bathing. It was built in 1914 to 1915 and was designed by George Mann and Eugene John Stern. The building didn’t just have baths; it also included a museum of Indian relics, bowling lanes, a billiard room, a gymnasium, roof garden, and variety of assembly rooms for conversations and …show more content…

Hale, and was the first of bathhouses to offer modern conveniences.
The last building and also the most northern building is the Superior, completed in 1916. The building is two stories, with an L shaped basement containing about 23 rooms and more than 10,000 square feet built of masonry and reinforced concrete. The building was damaged by a flood in 1923 and remodeling was somewhat done in the 1930s. Whirlpool equipment was installed in 1962 and air conditioning in 1971. Then the Superior closed in 1983 and the furnishings inside were sold at an auction.
Currently the Buckstaff, Fordyce, and Administration building are the only buildings open to the public. The Buckstaff is the only bathhouse that still provides baths and other services. Fordyce was restored in 1989 and is converted into the park’s visitor center. Each bathhouse is set back the same distance from the sidewalk and has green spaces/garden in front. They each have similar height, scale, and proportions. The needs for bathhouses are no longer needed since the advancements in medicine and the high costs of medical care have reduced bathing for physical therapy. For Hot Springs, Arkansas the residents see the bathhouses as a form of architectural core for downtown. Bathhouse Row is the largest collection of bathhouses remaining in the United States of the 20th

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