The Sol Goldman Play Center, within the block bounded by Bay, Henry, Lorraine and Clinton Streets, consists of a brick bathhouse and two pools.

The block to the northwest, bounded by Creamer, Court, Bay, and Clinton Streets, contains soccer field 6 and a running track.

[6][7] The Bush-Clinton Playground, containing several basketball courts and a play area, is north of the pool adjacent to Red Hook Houses.

[10] The Red Hook Play Center consists of the Sol Goldman Pool and Bathhouse, which are on the city block bounded clockwise from south by Bay, Henry, Lorraine and Clinton Streets.

[11] The bathhouse contains a facade of brick in Flemish bond and is shaped in a "C" with a 1+1⁄2-story central pavilion, flanked by west and east wings that are separated from the street by a grass strip.

The top of the building facade is wrapped with a simple cast-stone band, while the bottom sits on a water table of granite blocks.

[10] A curving fence with brick piers, as well as a planted glass strip, runs around the western and eastern sides of the pool complex.

A one-story comfort station is on the northwestern corner of the block; it is slightly above street level and formerly had men's and women's restrooms.

[27] The specific site of the Red Hook Recreation Area was originally intended as a terminal for the Marginal Elevated Railway, a shortline railroad connecting the industries along the Brooklyn waterfront.

[31] The city retained ownership of some 40 acres (16 ha) at the site of the unbuilt terminal, and was looking to sell and subdivide the land by 1930,[32] to some opposition.

[33][34] North of the abandoned terminal, the block bounded by Bay, Lorraine, Henry, and Clinton Streets was used as a baseball field from 1915 to about 1929.

[8] In 1934, mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia nominated Robert Moses to become commissioner of a unified New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

At the time, the United States was experiencing the Great Depression; immediately after La Guardia won the 1933 election, Moses began to write "a plan for putting 80,000 men to work on 1,700 relief projects".

[42][43] The pools would be built using funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federal agency created as part of the New Deal to combat the Depression's negative effects.

Moses, along with architects Aymar Embury II and Gilmore David Clarke, created a common design for each of the 11 proposed aquatic centers.

Each location was to have distinct pools for diving, swimming, and wading; bleachers and viewing areas; and bathhouses with locker rooms that could be used as gymnasiums.

The pools were to have several common features, such as a minimum 55-yard (50 m) length, underwater lighting, heating, filtration, and low-cost construction materials.

To fit the requirement for cheap materials, each building would be built using elements of the Streamline Moderne and Classical architectural styles.

[45][46] Unlike most projects of the era, the Red Hook Pool and Recreation Area would be constructed as a completely new facility, with the park to be developed later.

[49][51] Moses rejected this land transfer on June 22 to protest the fact that, under the terms of the grant, the plot could be taken back on thirty days' notice.

[56] The architects submitted plans for the Red Hook Play Center to the New York City Department of Buildings in early 1936.

[58] By that June, the wading pool's completion was delayed because staff had been diverted to the construction of facilities at Jacob Riis Park.

[62] According to a NYC Parks press release, the permanent facilities at the Red Hook Recreation Center were completed in time for the 1937 summer season.

[76] NYC Parks continued to face financial shortfalls in the coming years, and the pools retained a reputation for high crime.

[79][80] In conjunction with the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the government of Norway donated a 45-by-65-foot (14 by 20 m) soccer field to Red Hook Park.

[81] Additionally, in the 1990s, a practice called "whirlpooling" became common in New York City pools such as Red Hook Park, wherein women would be inappropriately fondled by teenage boys.

[82][83] By the turn of the century, crimes such as sexual assaults had decreased in parks citywide due to increased security.

[2][87] The city's health and parks departments tested soil samples on the block between Bay, Hicks, Lorraine, and Henry Streets in early 2012.

[90][101] NYC Parks began looking for architects to redesign the recreation center in 2021; at the time, some of the damage from Hurricane Sandy had still not been fixed.

[102] The recreation center's boiler room was damaged in late 2021 during Hurricane Ida, forcing an indefinite closure of the facility.