?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
ANONYMOUS [SUTRO BATHS.] 1896. 76x80 inches. (176 x 203 cm.) Condition B+ / B: restored losses in corners and margins; restoration in image and along seams. Faded. Four sheets. The Sutro Baths were the brainchild of former San Francisco Mayor and businessman Adolph Sutro. Built near his famous Cliff House, the baths occupied a stunning location overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The scope of the complex reads like a catalogue P. T. Barnum would have been proud of. The National Parks Service, which now owns the land that once housed the baths, describes the scene as follows: "A classic Greek portal opened to a massive glass enclosure containing seven swimming pools of various temperatures. There were slides, trapezes, springboards and a high dive. Together the pools held 1.7 million gallons of water and could be filled in one hour by high tides. There were 20,000 bathing suits and 40,000 towels for rent. Balmy temperatures and abundant plants enhanced 'California's Tropical Winter Garden.' The Baths could accommodate 10,000 people at one time . . . An amphitheater, seating up to 3,700 people, provided a variety of stage shows. Three restaurants could accommodate 1,000 people at a sitting. There were natural-history exhibits, galleries of sculptures, paintings, tapestries and artifacts from Mexico, China, Asia, and the Middle East." The Bath's decline began in 1937, when part of the complex was turned into a skating rink. The building burned down in 1966 during demolition. This poster also exists with text that reads "On the Shore of the Pacific Ocean."
![ANONYMOUS [SUTRO BATHS.] 1896. 76x80 inches. (176 x 203 cm.)](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//290\584290.jpg)
