Joseph H. Lyons Pool CLIENT: City of New York, Department of Parks and Recreation ARCHITECT: Joseph L. Hautman DATE: 1934-36 STYLE: Art Moderne, Swimming Pool 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.

Joseph H. Lyons Pool, August 28, 1937. The only WPA pool on Staten Island and the fourth pool to open in the summer of 1936, the Joseph H. Lyons Pool (also called the Tompkinsville Pool) sits on a plot of land on the waterfront. The location of space directly impacted the Joseph L. Hautman-designed facilities. The long L-shaped structures attempted to block out the sounds of the nearby railroad, while creating excellent views out towards New York Harbor. Unlike most of the other pools, these facilities occupy nearly the entirety of the lot and are not surrounded by additional park land. Beginning in 1982 a $6.7 million renovation was undertaken and the pool was rededicated in the summer of 1986, 50 years after it was first opened.

The 1930s were an important moment in history of recreation in New York City. In the early 1930s the Department of Parks came under the control of Robert Moses, who had very specific goals regarding citywide access to recreation facilities year-round. Moses employed the at-the-ready manpower of the New Deal's Works Progress Administration to create a spate of new, modern, and large-scale recreational facilities. This included the construction of 11 neighborhood Olympic sized pools. The pools all opened over a few weeks during the summer of 1936. The pools and accompanying play centers were constructed of inexpensive materials but featured advanced design and technology in filtration, chlorination, and heating systems and underwater lighting. Most were rendered in sleek Art Moderne styles. Each had a wading pool, lap pool, and diving pool and could accommodate thousands of swimmers at a time. In the non-summer months both the pools and the play centers were converted for paddle tennis, shuffleboard, volleyball, basketball, handball, roller skating rinks, and dance classes. These facilities in total had a capacity for nearly 50,000 people at the same time. They changed the way New York kids spent their summers. In a 1934 press release announcing the pools Moses said, “It is no exaggeration to say that the health, happiness, efficiency and orderliness of a large number of the city's residents, especially in the summer months, are tremendously affected by the presence or absence of adequate swimming and bathing facilities.”