The T
Saratoga Baths
on
Phila Street WRITTEN BY BILL ORZELL
A semi-detached portion of the bathhouse was the covered walkway along the building’s west side which was labeled ARCADE TO BROADWAY.
Phila Street originally did not intersect Broadway and terminated on Putnam Street, which was the reason the Arcade and Arcade-walkway was necessary to connect the Putnam Spring to Broadway. Map; Library of Congress.
74 | SIMPLY SARATOGA | WINTER 2021
he architecture of Saratoga Springs is remarkable, and the tangible link to our past. However some gems have been lost through the ages, due to fire and folly. One such wonder was the Saratoga Bath House, at 25 Phila Street. The Putnam Spring was originally tubed in 1835 by Lewis Putnam, the son of Gideon Putnam. Lewis Putnam passed away in 1873, and in 1879 his heirs sold the property to Harry M. Levengston, locally described as “a well-known capitalist.” This entrepreneur, along with his son Harry Marcus Levengston, Jr. (whose first name frequently appears as Harrie), in 1889, began construction of a colossal Romanesque Revival edifice of masonry and tile to offer mineral baths, which were in high demand at the end of the nineteenth century. The ‘Saratoga Baths,’ using the tonic Putnam Spring, provided immersion therapy in naturally carbonated mineral water, a delight for mind and body. It was considered a treatment for heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, rheumatism, gout, neuritis and even obesity. Harry M. Levengston, Jr. was one of Saratoga’s leading Gilded Age sportsmen, an impressive marksman and winner of many shooting tournaments. Mr. Levengston and his son moved their families to the Spa after their important purchase on Phila Street, and they originally domiciled on Circular Street. The first step in the bathhouse creation was to retube the Putnam Spring, which resulted in the water rising to three feet of the surface, providing a well rather than a flowing spring. Without artesian flow, the mineral water was pumped through the bathhouse. Period accounts described the building as being the most complete structure of its kind in the country. It was two stories with a basement. The front elevation combined Oxford bluestone and Perth Amboy brick. The interior was finished in marble and fine woods in harmony, and provided separate facilities for men and women. The main entrance to the building was through an impressive round arch, flanked by Ionic columns, and supported an attractive architrave, incised with the words SARATOGA BATHS. A semicircular awning could be deployed from the archway on bright days. Just inside the front door was a reception room where the staff would greet a visitor as the effervescing mineral water of the Putnam Spring bubbled up in a large display bowl. Another distinctive feature of the first story was the oriel window supported by a hemispherical corbel below, with four Ionic colonnettes supporting the falcate hood. The other windows on the first story used the ledge that separated the bluestone from the brick as their sill, and a lintel formed by a stringcourse of vertical brick and projecting keystones.
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