Bathhouse Row Adaptive Use Program – The Fordyce Bathhouse: Technical Report 5

National Park Service

Hot Springs National Park was once known as Hot Springs Reservation. It was set aside in 1832 to protect the Park's primary resource, the hot springs.This type of Reservation was an early version of the National Park idea.Hot Springs was actually the first area in the United States to be set aside for its natural features.After Yellowstone was formed in 1872, Hot Springs was managed with it. In 1916 the National Park Service was formed and in 1921, Hot Springs Reservation changed its name to Hot Springs National Park, making it the 18th National Park in the Service. This report is number five in a series of seven technical reports prepared by the NPS Denver Service Center to provide technical information for use in the development of proposals by prospective lessees or concessioners and in the evaluation of proposals by the National Park Service. The reports describe the Bathhouse Row landscape and structures and provide detailed information on historical development, significance, and present conditions of the landscape and each vacant bathhouse. This report concerns the Fordyce Bathhouse. The Fordyce Bathhouse is the largest and most ornate structure on Bathhouse Row. It was designed by the architectural firm of Mann and Stern of Little Rock in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style with lavish interior appointments and detailing (see figures 1, 2, and 4). Most of the exterior of the first floor is cream-colored glazed-brick and tile; the entire west or front facade and the northwest and southwest corners have terra cotta cladding. The second and third floors are also of brick. The west facade and north and south sides of the pavilions are composed of losenge-or diaper-patterned light-yellow and brown tapestry brick. The Fordyce is a three-story building with basement and contains about 28,000 square feet of space. As originally built, the concrete-walled and concrete-floored basement held two duck-pin bowling lanes, attendant's quarters, and rooms for various boilers, machinery, and heating and ventilating systems. The bowling lanes have been removed, but the rest of the basement remains relatively unchanged (figure 5). The Fordyce spring has been enclosed in a closet-like tile room with arched ceiling, and sealed with a plate-glass window looking into the spring.

Bathhouse Row Adaptive Use Program – The Fordyce Bathhouse: Technical Report 5

Series

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