Trenton Bath House — © Brian Rose

Trenton Bath House — © Brian Rose

Limited demolition and construction has already begun on the Louis Kahn bath house, so I will not be doing “before” pictures with the 4×5 camera. Disappointed that there wasn’t the money to get me down there in time, but I have been working on the photographs I did with my Sigma DP1, and feel that I have a reasonably good record of the building as it stood at the end of its first life, so to speak.

Trenton Bath House — © Brian Rose

I wrote about this earlier–about approaching the building as a modern day ruin–the result of a continuous process of use, neglect, and decay that will be irrevocably disrupted. This is restoration that absolutely needs to be done, however, and I am looking forward to seeing the building once it has been returned to its original state. It will be properly dignified as architectural icon while still serving in its prosaic role as changing rooms for a swimming pool.

Brian Rose at the Trenton Bath House — photo by Michael Mills

We are still talking about doing a book on the Bath House–its history, significance, how it was saved, and the process of restoring it. I will photograph the finished project with the full treatment–probably 4×5 film. But in the meantime, I have put a number of my photographs of the Bath House here on my website.