Bathhouse Row Adaptive Use Program – The Superior Bathhouse: Technical Report 2
National Park Service. 1985. Bathhouse Row Adaptive Use Program – The Superior Bathhouse: Technical Report 2. Historic Structure Report. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Denver Service Center. Denver, Colorado
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 two 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 Superior Bathhouse. The Superior Bathhouse contains 10,655 square feet of space divided into 23 rooms. It was constructed in the Classical Revival style, primarily using red brick and steel-reinforced concrete. It has brick pilasters on both the forward-projecting sunporch and on the two-story portion of the main building. In both cases the pilasters are set out from the mass of the building with ornamental patterns in brick and painted concrete. The vaguely Tuscan pilaster capitals are inset with a center medallion of green tile, as are the pateria over the pilasters in the friezes of the upper and lower cornices. Both the sun porch and the two-story portion of this bathhouse have flat roofs and are topped with brick parapets. The cornice and the exterior trim are painted metal and stone. Brick from the previous Superior Bathhouse may have been reused in the new structure. The Superior roof is flat over both legs of the "L" and has a brick and clay-tile parapet. This building is of load-bearing masonry walls, concrete-beam and flat-slab construction, with a few interior concrete columns.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- National Park Service
- Date of Issue
- 1985-06
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Denver Service Center
- Units
- HOSP , MWR
- Keywords
- adaptive use, bathhouse, bathhouse row, classic revival style, concessions, hot springs, superior bathhouse
- Subjects
- CRIS-HS: 000710: Superior Bathhouse
Series
See also
- Historic Structure Preservation Guide: The Superior Bathhouse
- Historic Structure Report: Superior Bathhouse
- Historic Structure Report: Superior Bathhouse
- Rental Analysis: The Superior Bathhouse, Central Avenue
- Water, Water Everywhere: A Brief Investigation of Deterioration in the Superior, Hale, Maurice, Quapaw, and Ozark Bathhouses