New St. Marks Baths

40°43′45″N 73°59′22″W / 40.729218°N 73.98949°W / 40.729218; -73.98949Opened1913 (1913)Renovated1979ClosedDecember 9, 1985 (1985-12-09)OwnerBruce MailmanOther informationFacilitiesprivate rooms, sauna

The New St. Marks Baths was a gay bathhouse at 6 St. Marks Place in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City from 1979 to 1985. It claimed to be the largest gay bath house in the world.^{[citation needed]}

The Saint Marks Baths opened in the location in 1913. Through the 1950s, it operated as a Turkish bath catering to Russian-Jewish immigrants on New York's Lower East Side. In the 1950s, it began to have a homosexual clientele at night. In the 1960s, it became exclusively gay.^[1]

In 1979, the bathhouse was refurbished, and the name was changed to the New Saint Marks Baths. In 1981, the neighboring building was purchased, with plans to expand.^[2]

The AIDS epidemic caused some activists such as Larry Kramer to urge its closing.^{[citation needed]}. In October 1985, an emergency resolution updating the New York Sanitary Code (10 NYCRR) § 24.2, authorized the New York City Department of Health to close any facilities "in which high risk sexual activity takes place."^[3] Despite providing information on AIDS and condoms to all patrons, the New St. Mark's Baths was closed permanently on December 7, 1985.^[4]

References