By Gus Saltonstall
The Gottesman Pool at the Davis Center in Central Park is currently shuttered, according to its website.
“Gottesman Pool at the Davis Center is temporarily closed due to a mechanical issue,” reads the pool’s website, which is located in the northern section of Central Park near the Harlem Meer at 106th Street.
The popular pool’s closure during the last week of August seemed significant, so we reached out to the New York City Parks Department to learn more about the mechanical issue and the closure.
The answer was related to flooding.
“The splash pad and one of the two main pool pumps are temporarily offline due to flooding. Central Park Conservancy and NYC Parks Maintenance and Operations staff are on-site and actively working to expedite the drying process and get the pumps back online,” a spokesperson from the Parks Department wrote to West Side Rag. “We will notify the community once a reopening date has been determined and hope to have the pool back online next week.”
Initially, a message on the Parks Department’s website stated that the Gottesman Pool was expected to reopen on Monday, August 31, but the date was taken down at some point on Wednesday.
Public outdoor pools in New York City, including the one at the Davis Center, close for the season on September 13. Additionally, adult lap swimming times at the Gottesman Pool end on August 28, which means it won’t be available as an option again in 2026.
The Gottesman Pool opened in the summer of 2025.
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Typical
Can you be more specific? Exactly how is this situation typical?
Typical in what way?
NYC Park Department incompetence
Right??!
If I had a dime for every time my local pool’s pump got flooded I have… ten cents?
With the rise in temperatures we really ought to keep pools open through the end of September.
Many lifeguards are students who need to get back to school.
Have never used this pool but also never realized it had an open lap swim. Anyone ever try it?
Yes. It’s very nice. 1 slow 2 medium 2 fast lanes. But the pool bottom lacks lines so I drifted a bit.
A bit of a trial by fire (or rather, by flooding) for this newly renovated pool. We had unusually heavy rain in the last month, so hopefully they will figure out the weak spots and fix them then reinforce them – as we’re likely facing ‘rare storms’ on a yearly basis now – so that the pool can remain open through future seasons, climate change and all.
Mechanical problems six months after opening? And the government wants to run grocery stores?
Becasue selling groceries is so similar to operating a huge swimming pool, right?
It was a Central Park Conservancy project maybe they could’ve built it better
Lasker was so much better. The pool was deeper and the water was cooler and it was run way better. Yes, the locker rooms were a disaster.
The landscaping around the new pool is beautiful but it is shameful that with the amount of money that was spent, that this is the result.
Finally, how can a brand new pool be closed at the end of the summer when so many of the kids it serves have nowhere else to go? Mayor Mamdani, please help!