Dapolito Rec Center Proposed for Demolition

By Ede Rothaus

For the last five years the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center has been closed for “repairs.” The extremely popular West Village Parks Department facility is located at Clarkson and Carmine Streets and still referred to as the “Carmine Street Pool” by generations of New Yorkers. In past years, a small sign posted outside the pool included a re-opening date. Not anymore.

At the July 10 meeting of Community Board 2, New York revealed its plans to demolish the historic recreation center rather than make the repairs it had been promising for years. The City views it as beyond repair saying it would be cheaper and faster to build a new center as an integral part of a planned development site at 388 Hudson Street. They did not disclose how the “vacant” parcel of land would later be used. This real estate is part of the Greenwich Village Historic District and raises many questions.

Countless local residents and many New Yorkers spent their summers at the pool, taking water exercise classes, lap swimming, running on the indoor track, playing basketball and sending their kids to day camps that used the center’s facilities. Now they are stunned and very puzzled. Why has a safe outdoor place in a crowded city disappeared?

Dapolito has been the heart of a neigh­borhood for more than 100 years. It was a place to connect with others in many ways. You could watch a movie on the roof on a hot summer night with likeminded folks –quintessential New York. Take an African dance, exercise or yoga class on a smooth, polished wooden floor. Pedal a stationary bike while looking down at kids shooting hoops on the basketball court. Cool off in the fresh summer air at the outdoor pool and brave cold winter evenings to take laps at the seasonal indoor pool. Lift weights in the gym. It was always busy. It opened early and closed at 9 pm. Free lunches were provided during the summer for those who relied on school lunches during the academic year. Young people came to the ‘rec center’ for both nourishment and relaxation.

Enlightened prior City administrations carefully made Dapolito and its counterparts across the five boroughs affordable for all New Yorkers. It demonstrated how local government could provide the best for its citizens at a low cost.

The red-brick center was constructed between 1906 to 1908. It expanded during the 1920s, achieved landmark status in 2010 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

The announcement that the building was slated for demolition caused shock waves of anger and disappointment that spread quickly through the neighborhood and around the city. At a time when “the Village” with its characteristic low rise residential buildings, tree lined streets, small shops, cafes, bars and restaurants along with the remaining cobblestone streets has been rapidly disappearing, the thought of demolishing Dapolito hit a civic nerve.

For some years an ambitious project for a tower at 388 Hudson Street has promised affordable housing in what would be then be the tallest building ever constructed in Greenwich Village. Rising to an estimated 355 feet, the structure would soar to a height twice the size of any of the surrounding build­ings. The shadows cast by the tower would significantly reduce the amount of sunlight affecting trees and residents alike. Mary Ann Arisman, Chair of the Saint Luke’s Place Block Association, is “opposed to the demolition of Dapolito without further review and study.” In addition, she is skeptical that demolition would bring about the City’s desired results. These call for placing all new recreational facilities in 388 Hudson in an area that could be used for additional affordable housing. Only the outdoor pool and the Keith Haring mural would remain. How this could be accomplished is unknown right now.

And, as with all municipal things relating to real estate, construction, new housing, zoning, and open spaces, the path to learn what actually is going on is complex. The Village View has reached out to all local and state representatives as well as the Office of the Mayor, the Department of Parks, the NYC Public Advocate and others for more information. As of this writing, Mayor Eric Adams’ office responded with a copy of the very lengthy press release for Let’s Swim NYC, a plan to invest more than $1 billion in improvements to public pools in each of the five boroughs between fiscal years 2024 and 2028. It did not answer this reporter’s questions. New York City Councilmember Erik Bottcher sent a response that supported recreational facilities at 388 Hudson while leaving open how many Dapolito services could be available there.

There is ample evidence that the cur­rent Dapolito Recreational Center can be repaired and expanded within a reasonable budget. Linking the demolition of an historic recreational center with a privately developed major real estate project seems fraught with potential problems, cost overruns, account­ability issues and unanswered questions.

At the July 18 full Community Board 2 meeting, speaker after speaker talked about what they have missed these last five years with no local outlet for affordable public recreation and especially what a swimming pool in summertime meant to them. Lifelong West Village resident Lucille DeVito was especially eloquent in speaking about three generations of her family swimming at Dapolito.

The row of tree saplings planted along the Seventh Avenue South side of the pool was planned to provide shade for the crowds of New Yorkers waiting to enter the center. Now fully grown, there is no one waiting in line under a leafy canopy to cool off in the pool.

---

Ede Rothaus is a photographer, writer, gardener and social justice activist.