In January of 2005, the Jewish Community Center (owners of the Kahn Bath House) announced ambitious plans
to move from the current location in Ewing to a new eighty acre site in West Windsor, NJ. Although the actual move will probably
not occur for another two years, there is justifiable concern about the fate of the Kahn Bath House and the sympathies of
the new owners to its maintenance and restoration. Although covered by a Ewing preservation ordinance which would prevent
demolition, it will be critical that the new owner be committed to the preservation of this structure. The Friends of the
Kahn Bath House has been formed to help insure that this occurs.
Perhaps the most extensive coverage of the state of these buildings appeared in Preservation Online,
April 29, 2005, in a story entitled Bathing Beauties:
Built by Kahn in 1957, the deteriorating pavilions were deemed a safety hazard to the campers.
Progress was made in 2000 when the Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund provided $23,325 for a historic site management
grant, funding a restoration study.
"The major issue with the bathhouse is that it was constructed of very standard, inexpensive materials
of the time," says Michael Mills of the Princeton, N.J.-based architectural firm Ford, Farewell, Mills & Gatsch, which completed
the study in the spring of 2003.
"If Kahn had been thinking of this as a 100- or 200-year old building, he might have provided more moisture
protection or hung gutters from those beautiful roofs. At this point, we recommend rebuilding several walls as opposed to
repairing them, because the concrete slabs are cracked from the water that has gotten underneath them and frozen."
The restoration study estimates that it would cost $486,000 to repair and rebuild the bathhouse. Mills
recommends restoring the ring of pebbles at the center of the design by setting them in concrete so that wheelchairs are able
to go over them safely. Another $400,000 is needed to rebuild the day camp pavilions, which have been without roofs for so
long that two of the four are "complete redoes," says Mills.
In 1997, the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects placed the Kahn Bath Houses
on their list of Endangered Buildings, with the following words:
"Jewish Community Center (Trenton) Bath House, 1955, Ewing, NJ, Louis I. Kahn, architect. Although not,
technically, in the eight county Philadelphia area, everybody puts the Trenton Bath Houses on their list. The bath houses
themselves are not threatened, but the adjacent pavilions used by the day camp are in poor condition and unused. Efforts are
underway to raise money to restore the structures and find an appropriate use."
It has also been placed on the National Register of Historical Preservation, with the listing
Trenton Jewish Community Center Bath House and Day Camp (added 1984 - Building - #84002730)
and the Preservation
New Jersey, Endangered Historic Site register:
Preservation New Jersey-- Kahn's Bath House and Day Camp
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| A close look at the brick walls shows serious need for extensive repair. |
(full text of Preservation Online story)
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| Sadly, over half of the Day Camp structure has already been demolished. |
