New York's Gay Bathhouses

Background

The celebrated Everard Baths, one of the longest-lived New York bathhouses, seemingly drew in gay men starting from its launch in 1888; however, as demonstrated, from a point at least during World War I up until its closure in 1986.

The edifice initially started as the Free Will Baptist Church in 1860. In 1882, it was transformed into the New-York Horticultural Society's Horticultural Hall. It became the Regent Music Hall during 1886-87, then the Fifth Avenue Music Hall, financed by James Everard. A native of Dublin, Ireland, Everard (1829-1913) moved to New York City as a youngster, and eventually established a masonry jobbing enterprise that succeeded in obtaining many significant city public works contracts. With his earnings, he invested in real estate post-1875 and amassed one of the nation's largest brewing corporations. (He was laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery.)

Following the Music Hall being shuttered by the City due to beer sales there, Everard opted to safeguard his investment by converting the establishment into a commercial 'Russian and Turkish' bathhouse, debuting in May 1888 at a cost of $150,000. Opulently furnished, possessing various steam baths and one hundred sleeping rooms, it held a prime position within the neighborhood known as the Tenderloin, teeming with entertainment venues, hotels, bachelor flats, restaurants, brothels, and sex resorts.

During its formative years, Everard's Baths welcomed a well-off and middle-class, predominantly white, clientele and garnered international acclaim. By 1896, Everard's had an Annex next door at No. 26. In 1921, the bathhouse was purchased by lawyer Abraham Harawitz, who envisioned $100,000 in alterations and expansion. An advertisement in 1922 declared 'everything new but the location' and touted that it was the 'Most Luxurious Baths in the World.' It was once again remodeled in 1932.

By at least the 1910s, Everard's was well known amongst gay men. Historian George Chauncey discovered that raids by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice in 1919 and 1920 here resulted in the arrests of several gay men. Despite this, Chauncey considered bathhouses the 'safest, most enduring' of social spaces for gay men, when compared to more perilous streets, parks, restrooms, speakeasies, and eateries, in addition to 'some of the first exclusively gay commercial spaces in the city.' Everard's was moderately private, witnessed few police raids, and maintained a degree of front-desk security that admitted fewer 'outsiders' such as thugs and straight men. Baths served as a fairly discreet and anonymous location for married and closeted men, and served as launching points for the gay community for numerous individuals.

One guide in the 1940s observed that

It continued, 'Most of the action takes place in the massive dormitory on the second floor. There are some rooms surrounding this dormitory, but most are on the third floor. Beneath street level, for those who may be interested, are found the steam room, showers and even a swimming pool. … There are, of course, plenty of other Turkish Baths in New York. … Yet [none] of the others, regardless of their intermittent activity, can claim a reputation even approaching that of Everard's.'

Some of the famous patrons of the 'Everard Baths,' as it became affectionately known (or fondly the 'Everhard'), are said to have included British actor/playwright Emlyn Williams, actor Alfred Lunt, writers Gore Vidal (he met his long-term partner, Howard Austen, there in 1950), Truman Capote, and Larry Kramer, dancer Rudolf Nureyev, and composer Ned Rorem.

After the 1968 opening of the extravagant Continental Baths on the Upper West Side siphoned away numerous patrons, the Everard gained a seedier reputation and suffered from many safety infringements. A catastrophic blaze occurred on May 25, 1977, when nine men died and the top two floors were devastated. The bathhouse was reconstructed and reopened, with an altered façade, but Mayor Ed Koch closed the Everard permanently in April 1986, as an anti-AIDS measure.

Entry by Jay Shockley, project director (March 2017; last revised May 2025).

NOTE: Names above in bold indicate LGBT people.