Betsy Head Park

About

Betsy Head Park is a 10.55-acre (4.27 ha) public park in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, United States. The park occupies two non-contiguous plots diagonally across from each other at the intersection of Dumont Avenue and Thomas S. Boyland Street, covering a collective 10.55 acres (4.27 ha). The modern-day park contains a playground, a swimming complex, and fields for baseball, football, tennis, and basketball. The park's swimming complex, the Betsy Head Play Center, was designed by Ely Jacques Kahn and consists of a bathhouse, a general swimming pool, and an infilled diving pool. The park is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also known as NYC Parks.

The construction of the park was funded by Betsy Head, a rich Briton who died in 1907. Plans for Betsy Head Park were completed in 1914 by Henry Beaumont Herts, and the park opened on September 30, 1915, with a bathhouse and a pool complex. The current Art Moderne style pool was built by Aymar Embury II and John Matthews Hatton during a Works Progress Administration project in 1935–1936. The bathhouse was not originally set to be renovated, unlike at other city parks with large pools, but it was rebuilt following a 1937 fire. The park's facilities were renovated from 1979 to 1983 and again in the late 2010s. The Betsy Head Play Center was designated as a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2008.