Fordyce Bathhouse: The Grand Promenade’s Architectural Standout

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we visit a Renaissance Revival bathhouse in Arkansas’s Bathhouse Row.

Although all the bathhouses in Hot Springs National Park are impressive and distinct, Fordyce is especially recognizable for its size, as well as its red, Spanish-style hip roof. The ground-floor facade features cream-colored enamel brick, while the second and third floors present a brown and light yellow brick arranged in a diamond pattern. RN Photo Midwest/Shutterstock

Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas is unique in its symbiotic relationship between the natural and the man-made. Since hot springs bubble up in the area, eight unique 19th- and early 20th-century bathhouses were built to accommodate visitors. The Fordyce Bathhouse is the largest and most opulent architectural standout on the Grand Promenade, a half-mile trail that runs parallel to Bathhouse Row.

The 28,000-square-foot Fordyce Bathhouse was built on a foundation of Arkansas Batesville limestone. The structure was designed by the Arkansas architectural firm of George R. Mann and Eugene John Stern, who also designed the Arkansas Capitol.