Highbridge recreation facility joins previously-designated water tower. On August 14, 2007, Landmarks voted to designate the Highbridge Play Center and Pool in upper Manhattan as an individual City landmark. The Play Center, which opened in 1936 and features an Olympic-sized swimming pool, became the seventh WPA-funded swimming pool built under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses’ auspices to be designated. Landmarks heard testimony on the Highbridge Play Center, along with several others, on January 31, 2007. 4 CityLand 25 (March 15, 2007). The pool, renovated in 2001, accommodates more than 4,000 people and remains in active use.

Highbridge Park also features the High Bridge Water Tower, completed in 1872 and landmarked in 1967. A retaining wall surrounding the Play Center is made from a cut stone matching the water tower’s material. The Play Center was among eleven City pools opened in 1936 by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and avid swimmer Robert Moses.

LPC: Highbridge Play Center and Pool (LP-2237) (Aug. 14, 2007).