Trenton Bath House

Jewish Community Center of the Delaware Valley
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Trenton Bath House

Site overview

The Trenton Bath House has been widely accepted as the building in which Louis I. Kahn first made the full distinction between "Servant" and "Served" space. Kahn did not flinch from acknowledging the impact this had on his own future development, always making clear that "Servant" and "Served" space provided a way for him to define his own architectural path. Kahn believed his distinct spatial hierarchies were able to liberate his work from loyalty to Modernism's free plan, as he made poignantly clear when he stated in 1961, "Now when I did the bath house, the Trenton Bath House, I discovered a very simple thing. I discovered that certain spaces are the real raison d'etre for doing what we are doing. But the small spaces were contributing to the strength of the larger spaces. They were serving them. And when I realized there were servant areas and there were areas served, that difference, I realized I didn't have to work for Corbusier any more. At that moment I realized I don't have to work for him at all." Comparing his private dependence on the Bath House to the public reception of the Richards Medical Research Building, Kahn noted, "If the world discovered me after I designed the Richards Medical Research Building, I discovered myself after designing that little concrete block bath house in Trenton."

Trenton Bath House

Site overview

The Trenton Bath House has been widely accepted as the building in which Louis I. Kahn first made the full distinction between "Servant" and "Served" space. Kahn did not flinch from acknowledging the impact this had on his own future development, always making clear that "Servant" and "Served" space provided a way for him to define his own architectural path. Kahn believed his distinct spatial hierarchies were able to liberate his work from loyalty to Modernism's free plan, as he made poignantly clear when he stated in 1961, "Now when I did the bath house, the Trenton Bath House, I discovered a very simple thing. I discovered that certain spaces are the real raison d'etre for doing what we are doing. But the small spaces were contributing to the strength of the larger spaces. They were serving them. And when I realized there were servant areas and there were areas served, that difference, I realized I didn't have to work for Corbusier any more. At that moment I realized I don't have to work for him at all." Comparing his private dependence on the Bath House to the public reception of the Richards Medical Research Building, Kahn noted, "If the world discovered me after I designed the Richards Medical Research Building, I discovered myself after designing that little concrete block bath house in Trenton."

Trenton Bath House

Site overview

The Trenton Bath House has been widely accepted as the building in which Louis I. Kahn first made the full distinction between "Servant" and "Served" space. Kahn did not flinch from acknowledging the impact this had on his own future development, always making clear that "Servant" and "Served" space provided a way for him to define his own architectural path. Kahn believed his distinct spatial hierarchies were able to liberate his work from loyalty to Modernism's free plan, as he made poignantly clear when he stated in 1961, "Now when I did the bath house, the Trenton Bath House, I discovered a very simple thing. I discovered that certain spaces are the real raison d'etre for doing what we are doing. But the small spaces were contributing to the strength of the larger spaces. They were serving them. And when I realized there were servant areas and there were areas served, that difference, I realized I didn't have to work for Corbusier any more. At that moment I realized I don't have to work for him at all." Comparing his private dependence on the Bath House to the public reception of the Richards Medical Research Building, Kahn noted, "If the world discovered me after I designed the Richards Medical Research Building, I discovered myself after designing that little concrete block bath house in Trenton."

Trenton Bath House

Site overview

The Trenton Bath House has been widely accepted as the building in which Louis I. Kahn first made the full distinction between "Servant" and "Served" space. Kahn did not flinch from acknowledging the impact this had on his own future development, always making clear that "Servant" and "Served" space provided a way for him to define his own architectural path. Kahn believed his distinct spatial hierarchies were able to liberate his work from loyalty to Modernism's free plan, as he made poignantly clear when he stated in 1961, "Now when I did the bath house, the Trenton Bath House, I discovered a very simple thing. I discovered that certain spaces are the real raison d'etre for doing what we are doing. But the small spaces were contributing to the strength of the larger spaces. They were serving them. And when I realized there were servant areas and there were areas served, that difference, I realized I didn't have to work for Corbusier any more. At that moment I realized I don't have to work for him at all." Comparing his private dependence on the Bath House to the public reception of the Richards Medical Research Building, Kahn noted, "If the world discovered me after I designed the Richards Medical Research Building, I discovered myself after designing that little concrete block bath house in Trenton."

Trenton Bath House

Site overview

The Trenton Bath House has been widely accepted as the building in which Louis I. Kahn first made the full distinction between "Servant" and "Served" space. Kahn did not flinch from acknowledging the impact this had on his own future development, always making clear that "Servant" and "Served" space provided a way for him to define his own architectural path. Kahn believed his distinct spatial hierarchies were able to liberate his work from loyalty to Modernism's free plan, as he made poignantly clear when he stated in 1961, "Now when I did the bath house, the Trenton Bath House, I discovered a very simple thing. I discovered that certain spaces are the real raison d'etre for doing what we are doing. But the small spaces were contributing to the strength of the larger spaces. They were serving them. And when I realized there were servant areas and there were areas served, that difference, I realized I didn't have to work for Corbusier any more. At that moment I realized I don't have to work for him at all." Comparing his private dependence on the Bath House to the public reception of the Richards Medical Research Building, Kahn noted, "If the world discovered me after I designed the Richards Medical Research Building, I discovered myself after designing that little concrete block bath house in Trenton."

Awards

Advocacy

Award of Excellence

Civic

The jury awards a Citation of Merit to Mills + Schnoering Architects, LLC for the restoration of the Trenton Bath House and Day Camp Pavilions in Trenton, New Jersey. The jury notes the heroic preservation efforts of the previously threatened site and the sensitivity of the restoration of the 1954-1957 Louis I. Kahn and Anne Tyng design., NJ 08628

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Restoration Team
  • Farewell Mills Gatsch Architects, LLC – (Project Management, Design, Preservation - now Mills + Schnoering Architects, LLC)
  • Heritage Landscapes - (Landscape Architecture)
  • Wu & Associates, Inc. - (Restoration Contractor)
  • Mercer County Division of Planning,Susan Solomon, PhD
  • Keast & Hood Co. - (Structural Engineering)  
  • Joseph R. Loring & Associates - (MEP Engineering)
  • The RBA Group - (Civil Engineering)
  • Gilbane - (Cost Estimating)
  • De Sapio Construction, Inc. - (Contractor - Snack Bar)

Primary classification

Health (HLT)

Secondary classification

Recreation (REC)

Terms of protection

Ewing, NJ preservation ordinance

Designations

National Register of Historic Places, February 23, 1984
New Jersey Register of Historic Places, January 6, 1984

Author(s)

Susan Solomon | | 6/22/2003

How to Visit

Self-guided walking tours available for download

Location

999 Lower Ferry Road
Ewing Township, NJ, 08628

Country

US
More visitation information

Designer(s)

Other designers

John Hirsch, Stanley Dube, Keast & Hood (consulting engineers)

Related Sites

Commission

1954

Completion

October 1957

Commission / Completion details

Commision 1954(e), design period for site 1954-58(e), Bath House completion Oct.

Current Use

The Bath House still remains the changing and shower area for swimmers.

Current Condition

The building has extensive water damage but is reported to be structurally sound.

Social

At a time when most Jewish Community Centers were still tied to urban roots, the Trenton community attempted to move to a suburban campus. Although the Bath House and Day Camp were the only elements built to Kahn's plan, the concept was progressive for the early 1950s.

Cultural & Aesthetic

The Trenton Bath House has been widely accepted as the building in which Kahn first made the full distinction between \"Servant" and "Served" space. Kahn did not flinch from acknowleging the impact this had on his own future development, always making clear that "Servant" and "Served" space provided a way for him to define his own architectural path. Kahn believed his distinct spacial heirarchies were able to liberate his work from loyalty to modernism's free plan, as he made poignantly clear when he stated in 1961, "Now when I did the bath house, the Trenton Bath House, I discovered a very simple thing. I discovered that certain spaces are the real raison d'etre for doing what we are doing. But the small spaces were contributing to the strength of the larger spaces. They were serving them. And when I realized there were servant areas and there were areas served, that difference, I realized I didn't have to work for Corbusier any more. At that moment I realized I don't have to work for him at all." Comparing his private dependence on the Bath House to the public reception of the Richards Medical Research Building, Kahn noted, "If the world discovered me after I designed the Richards Medical Research Building, I discovered myself after designing that little concrete block bath house in Trenton."

General Assessment

By taking strands of contemporary architectural investigation and reworking them into a bold critique of modernism's free plan, wasteful spaces, and insubstantial weight, Kahn was finally able to have faith in his own process of creation. He paired Platonic geometry, clear separation of parts, strict axiality, and predetermined processional paths with romantic, naturalistic groves, gardens or plantings that implied a more picturesque means of discovery. His use of materials, while not strictly industrial, hinted at the possibility of an industrialized vernacular. Kahn unique contribution was to answer general discontent with a solution that solidified and unified disparate ideas.