RochesterSubway.com : University of Rochester’s Lost Swimming Pool

University of Rochester’s Lost Swimming Pool

February 4th, 2013

“It’s one of the eeriest, strangest places I’ve ever been.” That’s what Chris Seward said of this little known spot on the University of Rochester campus when he took these photos. The Merle Spurrier Gymnasium opened in 1955 as part of a women’s center and the Susan B. Anthony women’s dormitory. Spurrier housed this 25-yard-long, six lane swimming pool. According to a 2004 Campus Times article , the pool has been closed ever since the women’s gym facilities were moved to the Robert B. Goergen Athletic Center in 1982…

After the gym was moved, Spurrier became an alternative exam location for large classes. When exams weren’t taking place, the pool became a convenient storage facility for all the extra desk chairs.

This 360º interactive panorama was created by another local photographer, Tony Di Pietro

. Click the “fullscreen” button and give it a whirl. Tony tells me those lights inside the pool were actually reclaimed search lights from WWII. The pool also has little windows in the sides that allowed the swimmers to be viewed underwater.

The on-campus technology store, University IT Computer Sales, has made use of the pool deck for storage of large boxes and various other extra tables and equipment. The pool deck has also been used as a home for props from Strong Auditorium. As a result, many odds and ends can be found poolside, such as old-fashioned television sets, couches and brooms.

The chairs and desks are not used much any more. Today, the building is home to the University Progam of Movement & Dance, and practice rooms for the music department.

It’s kind of funny how, at the shallow end, the desks are lined up very neatly. Then at the deep end it becomes an enormous junk pile. I can just imagine the poor dude tasked with moving all this stuff into the pool, working late into the night… He was probably like, “ah fuck it.”

Sometime after these feet appeared all over the floor and walls, the University locked the space up pretty tight. Personally, I think the feet are a nice touch. They really tie the room together.

When the Susan B. Anthony dorm was built, tunnels were opened between the residence hall and the gymnasium, providing easy, warm access for the women. Maybe those are the footprints of Susie’s ghost? Even suffragettes enjoy a refreshing dip now and again.

UPDATE: I’m getting a lot of people asking if this pool is still there. Yes. Still there. And everyone I’ve spoken to says it’s in the same condition. The panoramic photo was shot in 2011.

UPDATE: Allen C. via Facebook, says “Unfortunately I witnessed—only within the last few weeks—the movement of all these Wakefield desks to dumpster after dumpster. Its empty now.”

Thanks To…

Photos shared with permission from Chris Seward, 2010. You can view Chris’ entire Flickr set here

360º panoramic photo taken by Tony Di Pietro, 2011. You can view more of Tony’s work here

Inquiries made to University of Rochester were not returned by the time this story was published. Thanks to Tony and Ryan Green for helping me pull together the details.

Tags: abandoned swimming pool, Chris Seward, Flickr, Jane Possee, Merle Spurrier, Merle Spurrier Gymnasium, Robert B. Goergen Athletic Center, Rochester, Rochester NY, Rochester panorama, rochester photos, Tony DiPietro, U of R, University of Rochester

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2013 at 7:54 am and is filed under Art + Culture, Rochester History, Rochester Images, Urban Exploration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

29 Responses to “University of Rochester’s Lost Swimming Pool”

Patrick Eagan says:

February 4, 2013 at 8:28 am

Reminds me of the pool at Aquinas which was never used as a pool. When I was at AQ it was used as a music room. The tiered ‘seats’ were used as a study room.
Rebecca says:

February 4, 2013 at 8:31 am

Donate those desks and chars to less fortunate schools, libraries, and home schoolers!
RochesterSubway.com says:

February 4, 2013 at 9:35 am

@Rebecca, that’s a good idea. Let UofR know and maybe something good will happen!
Heather McKay says:

February 4, 2013 at 9:52 am

Wow. What a great post! So fascinating. Thanks for sharing…
Jimmy says:

February 4, 2013 at 10:14 am

these photos should be submitted to Nat Geo’s your shot. The room in its condition is intriguing
RaChaCha says:

February 4, 2013 at 4:02 pm

This is way cool! Lotsa fascinating “hidden” stuff around the U!
Dan Gorman says:

February 4, 2013 at 5:16 pm

Actually, they’ve since turned the entry area (up to the boarded off side door) into a music practice space, which is quite nice. It’s unfortunate that so much of that space still goes unused, though.
RochesterSubway.com says:

February 4, 2013 at 7:56 pm

This was a hot topic on Reddit today (in the “Abandoned Porn” subreddit). Some interesting comments… http://www.reddit.com/r/AbandonedPorn/comments/17vdeo/abandoned_pool_at_the_university_of_rochester/
Diana says:

February 4, 2013 at 8:39 pm

Hey are you sure that the desks aren’t used? Back in the mid to late 90s they used to be set up in the old gym for exams. My freshman year the women’s and men’s swim team set up the chairs for the fall semester finals. I’ve stood in that pool hoisting desks out. That is probably why they are nicely lined up in the shallow end.
RochesterSubway.com says:

February 4, 2013 at 8:53 pm

@Diana, So you were one of the “poor dudes” (or dudettes) who got stuck moving all the desks in and out of there? That’s kind of funny.

They were used on occasion, as you say, for exams. But for at least the past 8-10 years they haven’t been used much. That’s what I gleaned from the 2004 Campus Times article (all mentioned above).

“After the gym was moved, Spurrier became an alternative exam location for large classes. When exams weren’t taking place, the pool became a convenient storage facility for all the extra desk chairs.”
Ben Brown says:

February 4, 2013 at 9:53 pm

I was a member of a group called ‘No Jackets Required’, and we actually heavily used this space (with permission of the school) for 2 – 3 years as a music rehearsal space. I have a ton of photos of bands practicing in this space, our couch and TV set up where we played old NES games between rehearsals, us climbing around in it, etc. etc. The fire marshall eventually came by and saw how dangerous it was and we had to turn in the key, but I’d be happy to share more info about the pool for those several years we used it!
Bob Shanebrook says:

February 4, 2013 at 10:11 pm

There is an abandoned (actually unfinished) Rochester pool on the 6th floor of Kodak’s Theater Building (B28). It is on Ridge Rd in Kodak Park. I know of two stories why it wasn’t completed. Kodak’s story is that it wasn’t finished because there was an abundance of pools in the Rochester area. An urban ledgend is that there was a miscalculation when the building was designed resulting in the building superstructure being inadequate to support the water. I believe the first story but the second one is more fun.

It remained unfinished when I last saw it in 2003. It had rough orange masonary walls and rough concrete floor. The unused gray glazed tiles were stacked in the spectators’ balcony. The pool, with the slanted floor, was equiped with a wheeled 20 foot tall light box that was used to inspect and retouch Coloramas for Grand Central Station. The pool deck was widened with L shaped brackets to over hang the edge of the pool and a green rubber surfaced running track was there for many years. I don’t remember how many laps to the mile, my estimate is about 24.
Rita Butzer says:

February 5, 2013 at 9:07 am

I was in the UR Pep Band in 1986 (until 1988?). I have memories of practicing somewhere in the gym, thought it was here, but I don’t see the bleachers? Hmmm…
Nick says:

February 5, 2013 at 9:17 pm

I directed the Midnight Ramblers a cappella group at UR in ’08 and ’09, and we had a blast using the weird resonance in the pool to make crazy vocal sound effects for our studio albums (recorded in the nearby practice rooms). I miss this pool…
Joel says:

February 6, 2013 at 11:13 pm

Great scene for a movie. Would be an interesting project for a local architect to determine what might be done with this space.
Mekashi says:

August 9, 2013 at 1:32 pm

I don’t understand how a place still with people, have an abandoned pool. I mean there are still people in this university…..that’s really weird
John says:

October 3, 2013 at 10:21 pm

I don’t know how long ago I bought a collector’s set of Rochester bus tokens. I also have a school token that I happen to keep from riding the bus to school in the 50s.After I was able to buy a car I think I may have ridden the bus about three times.
I think the newspaper sold the replica tokens as a fund raiser for something.
Andrea says:

December 7, 2013 at 2:04 am

That makes me sad that they threw all of those desks away. How wasteful!
ron bajorek says:

January 21, 2014 at 12:30 pm

It amazes me that the school wouldn’t make an effort to find a home for these desks. These would be welcome many places
Liz says:

February 2, 2014 at 8:24 pm

I agree with rebecca, andrea, and ron bajorek!! If these wooden desks were in still good condition to be used, I’m sure many organizations would have been willing to take them as well as the plastic/metal desks. What happened to the cute red wagon? Tis shame 🙁
Chelle says:

July 9, 2014 at 8:15 am

I agree it would be great to see these desks and chairs donated. I love the photos and the orange feet are awesome. I’m from Australia. These photos always inspire me 🙂
Diane Tulley says:

June 17, 2015 at 1:33 am

I’ve always loved the Kodak Pool stories–what a career for a lifeguard to work there! I lifeguarded and taught for 6 years for Rochester Recreation back when God was a girl.
There’s nothing sadder than a dead pool, like the Natatorium on South Avenue, Seneca Park Pool, the original Genesee Park pool (rebuilt), and the deterioration of the Clinton Center. These pools are where you learned to swim and stay safe in the water. We need to respect the pools and those charged with teaching and keeping us safe, rebuild them when the chemicals tear them apart. Stay safe and stay wet!
Chet Yates says:

July 25, 2015 at 7:04 pm

This gymnasium is in honor of my wife’s Great Aunt. My wife’s father, Ralph Godsell Spurrier was Merle Spurrier’s nephew. My wife, Sharon Spurrier, was one of Ralph Spurrier’s five children. The family still affectionately remembers “Aunt Merle”
Chris H says:

February 1, 2016 at 4:20 am

I graduated from U of R in 2008. Somehow, despite regularly exploring pretty much every other building on campus (whether I had reason to be in them or not), I never set foot in Spurrier. You can see inside walking past, though, which I did regularly, and the upper gym areas are regularly used by various groups – dance, kendo, lots more I’m sure.

As has been noted, another larger gym and pool opened more centrally on campus (not to mention that everything finally became truly co-ed eventually… Susan B. Anthony herself is responsible for getting the university to admit women in the first place in 1902,hence what was originally the women’s dorm when they stopped using the prince st. campus as the women’s college being named after her). Considering how close the two gyms are to each other and how much use the athletic facilities are used (not to say that UR students are not athletic, but I mean compared to truly athletics-heavy schools which UR decidedly isn’t), it would have made no sense to keep up two pools. I would guess the reason it wasn’t renovated as another type of space (perhaps another open gym space) is that they didn’t want to discount the possibility of ever using the pool again – it does seem odd to leave what is really quite prime real estate on campus in a difficult-to-use state (other than desk storage I guess). I am not surprised they got rid of the desks… they definitely were not using the desks for exams anymore when I was there. I would be interested to know what, if anything, they are doing with the space now because they have been making some huge changes in recent years around campus.

Anyway, what I actually meant to comment on was the tunnel. There are tunnels below the main quad (the oldest buildings, near the main library) and they are truly fantastic in winter. Many a student has wondered why they don’t have tunnels reaching out to the rest of the campus. To that effect, there’s a misinformation-fed rumor that there’s a tunnel connecting the Susan B. Anthony dorm (now the main freshman dorm, hence the presence of rumors like this) to the quad tunnel system (which ends at the library, then it’s a cold climb up the hill to the dorm).The reason it’s no longer open, the story goes, is that the curve or bend in the tunnel (as seen in the photo) makes visibility difficult which makes it easy to surprise and more easily commit sexual assaults or harassment of some sort (depends on who is telling the story) and after some incidents it was deemed unsafe.

I think it must have been inspired by the fact that there is in fact a tunnel beneath the dorm… which merely takes you to the gym, which is adjacent anyway… and it’s closed because it’s at pool level, which is also closed. But it got twisted into a classic fear-mongering story that freshmen eat up.

By the way, the campus is very safe – not that it’s totally immune from that kind of thing, but I don’t want to accidentally contribute to spreading those rumors.
Cindy says:

September 2, 2016 at 11:57 pm

I loved seeing the picture of the swimming pool in the paper last year, and was amazed it was being used to store chairs etc. I went swimming in that pool when I was a little girl with my sister and her boyfriend’s family who took us there in around 1958, It was a beautiful pool, but even the shallow end was way over my head at the age of 8.
Paul says:

September 24, 2016 at 4:08 pm

wow…very eerie! I agree with those above who said these chairs and desks should be donated though.
Dan Marshall says:

April 4, 2018 at 1:31 pm

I remember swimming in this pool when I was a young boy. At that time it must have been fairly new. My dad had graduated from the U of R yeas earlier and there must have been family swim nights available. Eventually we had a pool constructed at home and that was the end of our visits.
Jeff says:

September 6, 2019 at 4:46 pm

I graduated in ’79, and I used to lifeguard in that pool! Apparently, as a holdover from when Susan B. Anthony was the womens’ dorm, the Spurrier Pool held “women only” swim sessions where nudity or topless swimming was allowed for a while. Lifeguarding there my freshman fall, apparently the word hadn’t gotten out that the pool was 100% coed, and a few female swimmers were quite surprised to see a male lifeguard, and scampered back in.
Jeff says:

September 6, 2019 at 4:47 pm

..Back into the locker room, that is!

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University of Rochester’s Lost Swimming Pool

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