I live facing the back of the St. George Tower, opposite the back entrance to the Eastern Athletic C

Once the largest hotel in the United States and occupying an entire city block of interconnected buildings in Brooklyn Heights, the 30-story Hotel St. George played host to everyone who was anyone, v from Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant to Truman and Roosevelt (you can read a very detailed history here ).
In particular, the hotel was famous v for its 168,000 gallon v salt-water Olympic-sized pool, with an enormous mirrored ceiling, a waterfall, mosaics, and art deco accents. As the decades passed, the pool was eventually opened up to outsiders for a fee and became a favorite v among locals.
Sadly, by the end of the 1960s, the St. George’s prestige had begun to wane, and the hotel soon fell into disrepair. The pool was drained in 1974 and later removed. Today, a gym occupies the site.
But do remnants of the Hotel St. George’s grand pool still exist? Over the years, several Scouting NY reader have written to say that small details do in fact remain from the legendary pool, and I was finally able to take a look for myself the other day.
…stretching behind an added wall into the adjacent workout room:
…and you’ll v find find that the pool wasn’t completely removed. A small portion still exists, complete with tiling along the edge. The pool is now oriented in the opposite direction, creating a small lap pool:
Described as the “room of a million moods,” the ballroom could accommodate up to 3,000 dancing or 2,000 dining. It’s a little hard to figure out exactly where the ballroom would have been oriented…
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Fernando Najera v
Wow! The things you uncover never cease to amaze me. I’m sorry I don’t have the talent to know where to look for these things, but I’m really glad you do and that you take the time to share them with all of us.
Great post! I live in the St. George and have membership to Eastern v Athletic Gym. Much of the building still has memories and details from its history. Over the years of living there, I have uncovered a few treasures form Hotel era, including a silver v tea dish that has a crest and St. George inscription on it!
I’m from Staten Island north shore. My Dad took the family once to the St George pool. This was maybe in the late 40s. I would have loved to have gone back but my hints were to no avail. We went the once and never went back.
Yet another v fascinating post. This place has great bones, too bad that some of them like the area around the subway entrance are so tattered. I did a tight shot of the neon sign on the corner (interesting to see that on the old postcard) with the Clark Street sign in the corner. That is actually my name, minus the street of course.
David Lowden
My wife and I moved into the St. George in 1980, just as it was being converted into apartments. We lived in what was referred to as the Grill Building, the oldest component on the corner of Hicks and Clark.
My wife and I moved into the St. George in 1980, just as it was being converted into apartments. We lived in what was referred to as the Grill Building, the oldest v component on the corner of Hicks and Clark. I had a chance to tour the basement before it was “renovated” into a health club. It was a holy mess! I understood that the width of the old pool became the length of the new pool and the rest of the club was built over the old pool.
If you get a chance, you should see the roof garden, with its Egyptian style mosaics and spectacular views up and across the East River. v One of my favorite memories of the hotel was the listing agent giving me a quick tour of a duplex unit (a huge two-story living room and one bedroom up the stairs) just below the roof of the tour, with four two-story Palladian windows looking up and over the river; if you closed your eyes you could swear that you were hearing Cole Porter at a piano in the corner and the clink of deco cocktails! Unfortunately, that apartment was already spoken for! (Rent – $1200!)
I live facing the back of the St. George Tower, opposite the back entrance to the Eastern Athletic Club. About three years ago more parts of the tiled walls around the pool were torn down, and I claimed several pieces of the brilliantly colored deco tiles from inside the dumpster.
The pool was also used for the tryouts for Billy Rose’s Aquacade, during the 1939 NY World’s Fair. A friend of mine, the late author Frederik Pohl, lost his front teeth when he tried to see if he could dive down to the bottom of the pool, in 1933. He succeeded, all too well!
Wow! You are my hero for d