The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated a Department of Parks and Recreation center and a
St. Francis College campus building landmarks
today, the New York Times reported. The recreation center, at 342-348
East 54th street, was formerly a public bathhouse, built between 1901 and
1914 as part of a campaign to encourage tenement residents to bathe. It
ceased to exist as a bathhouse in the 1930s, and now serves as an athletic facility with indoor basketball courts, a running track and a
pool. The eight-story St. Francis building at 176 Remsen Street in Downtown
Brooklyn used to headquarter the Brooklyn Union Gas Company. [NYT]