The Asser Levy Public Baths, the recreation center's main building, was designed by Arnold W. Brunner and Martin Aiken.

Its main entrance on Asser Levy Place consists of two large arches flanked by pairs of columns.

Outdoor recreational facilities, including additional swimming pools and the playground, surround the bathhouse.

The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1974 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

[22] Other bathhouses were designed to be "easily recognizable", but lacked "all outward display of lavishness [...] as it would only keep the poor people away".

[6][13][11] The main entrance faces west onto the former path of Asser Levy Place,[6][13] now part of the recreation center's outdoor facilities.

[7][13][17][9][10] Within each arch is a pair of small doors, flanked by scrolled brackets supporting triangular pediments atop each doorway.

[6][13] Architectural historian Robert A. M. Stern wrote that the main arches "were more like portals to a great amphitheatre than frames around doors to a hygienic facility".

[6][13] The top of the facade above the main entrance contains a frieze, a cornice supported by modillions, and an architrave.

There is a copper gable roof atop the bathhouse, with an iron skylight overlooking the pool at the center of the building.

[11] The formerly separate men's and women's waiting rooms have been combined into a single space with a double-height vaulted ceiling.

[31] The pool contains a bronze lion's head fountain at its shallow end[19][29] and is surrounded by a gutter.

The skylight above the natatorium is supported by large steel girders that rest on stone modillions along each of the western and eastern walls.

[11] The shower rooms were also equipped with five tub baths at their opening, to be used by "invalids" or by mothers with small children.

[21][41] Progressive social reformers pushed for the construction of public bathhouses modeled on those of ancient Rome.

[21][40][43] At the time, floating baths still existed along the Hudson and East rivers, but these were widely considered unsanitary.

[19][41] In 1903, the city's Department of Docks and Ferries released land for a new bathhouse at East 23rd Street and Avenue A.

[15][16] Competitive swimmers such as Charles Daniels competed at the bathhouse's indoor pool during the opening ceremony.

The segment outside the bathhouse was renamed in 1954 after Asser Levy, one of the first Jewish citizens of New York City and a strong and influential advocate for civil liberties.

[54] After the funds were finally provided in the city's fiscal year 1988 budget,[55] work on an $8 million renovation started on November 30, 1988.

[19][57] A 1.7-acre (0.69 ha) accessible playground opened adjacent to the recreation building in October 1993,[58][59][60] after six years of planning.

[61] By the beginning of the 21st century, the Asser Levy Recreation Center was one of the city's last remaining public bathhouses.

[64][65] Asser Levy Place was permanently closed in 2013,[8][63] and work on the park extension began that November.