ROMANS weren't the only people who knew how to have fun in baths. Sutro Baths , a former public swimming pool complex in San Francisco , California , offered locals the chance to splash around with their community. The pool, built in 1894, opened to the public in 1896 and could fit up to 10,000 people at once.
On-site services even offered 20,000 bathing suits and up to 40,000 towels for rent. In order to better accessibility to the baths, Sutro kept fees low. At the time, San Franciscans paid just five cents to take the train and 25 cents to swim, which included the cost of a swimsuit and towel.
Read More on Travel Millionaire Adolph Sutro constructed the privately owned public bathhouse with a vision for a "healthy, recreational, and inexpensive swimming facility for thousands of San Franciscans." The facility resembled a waterpark, with slides, trapezes, springboards, and even a high dive. An underground turbine pump changed the water out every five hours when the San Francisco Bay was at low tide.
Sutro included seven saltwater swimming pools, which were contained within a Greek-style glass roof house. Most read in Travel While the public attraction was built as a gift for the working-class people of San Francisco, Sutro spared no expenses to make the swimming experience luxurious. Sutro hosted music and dance competitions at the baths to amuse and entertain guests.
The bath, which was once the largest indoor swimming pool in the world, is now in ruins. At the time, the baths proved to be an architectural marvel, standing at nearly 500 feet long and 254 feet wide. Following the Great Depression, the baths became less commercially successful despite cementing itself as a cultural landmark.
Attempts were made to convert the baths into an ice skating rink. In 1964, a developer attempted to build an oceanfront apartment complex on the grounds and partially demolished part of the baths in the process. In the midst of demolition, however, an unexpected fire left the remaining structures in ruins.
After the fire, the developer abandoned his plans to construct the apartment complex. In 1976, the Sutro Bath ruins became a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Read More on The US Sun Admission to Sutro Baths and Sutro Heights Park is free and open to the public.
Travelers can visit Sutro Baths 24 hours a day, seven days a week..
