1892–present
Russian and Turkish Baths, East Village (1892)
New York's oldest surviving bathhouse opened on East 10th Street in 1892, serving generations of immigrants and locals with steam rooms, hot rooms, and cold plunges. It became a community fixture, hosting everyone from artists to families for over a century.
Then
It operated for decades as a working-class institution, outlasting the many bathhouses that closed around it.
Now
It remains open today, standing for the communal bathing tradition Bathhouse is modernizing.
Why this matters now
Bathhouse sells the same format — heat, cold, and community — but with an event sauna, cocktails, and venture backing. The liquor licence is part of that commercial reinvention of a format more than 130 years old.