I thought this was a fascinating building when I saw it. I was even more interested when I looked up its history. This building has been offering Russian and Turkish style baths since 1906. the bathhouse is a product of the early 20th century melting pot that was Chicago at the time.
Unfortunately, when I photographed it, I didn't realize it was still a functional bath house so I didn't check to see if it was open at present. Wikipedia tells me that the women's side has been closed for for some time and portions of the men's side were closed for renovations as of February 2006. Since I have no personal interest in bathing there, I will leave any other research up to the reader. So if you need a bath, phone first.
Historical sources say that this bath was enjoyed by Chicago mobsters who could comfortably meet each other at the baths. It is hard to hide weapons while bathing in the nude. I can think of a few parts of the world that might benefit from Russian baths in this case.
1 comment:
We don't have public baths. But we do have a public sauna. I've gone by it several times in my life, but have never been inside.
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