Russian Bath House

Division Street Russian and Turkish Baths is a traditional Russian-style bathhouse at 1914 W. Division Street in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, which has operated since 1906. Although it originally provided separate facilities for both men and women, the women's side has been closed for several years.

The bathhouse is divided into two areas, both with entrances on the south face of the building.

The door on the west leads to the men's area, which consists of a locker room, lounge areas and massage rooms on the first floor. Stairs lead down to the basement level which contains the bath facilities: open showers; cold pool; warm pool; eucalyptus-scented steam bath; and a hot room. As of February 2006 this side of the bathhouse is undergoing repair and is closed, but is expected to reopen within months.

The east entrance leads to a smaller set of facilities, which were originally the women's side. For a while, the women's side was rented to a separate owner and operated under the name "European Spa" but that business closed several years ago.

Division Street's owner, Joey Colucci, is currently running the men's bath house in the part of the building which had formerly been the women's side (i.e., the "European Spa") while he renovates the larger side (i.e., that accessed from the western entrance, which was traditionally the men's side).

In this smaller area there is a small bar area on the first floor, with the basement containing a locker room as part of the wet area; massage rooms; divided showers; steam room; and a hot room. There are no pools on this side of the bathhouse.

The most popular feature at Division Bath is the traditional Russian Banya or hot room. These rooms (one on either side) are built of concrete and tile with glass doors. In a corner of each is a brick oven in which granite boulders, approximately the size of watermelons, are heated to extreme temperatures by gas jets; hot water is then thrown on the rocks by the customers as desired. When this happens, the water instantly evaporates, creating steam inside the oven and heating the brick enclosure, thereby raising the air temperature in the room. This method provides a much dryer heat than common steam rooms. The bathers sit or lay on three-level tiered wooden benches, which allow for dramatically different temperatures at the various heights. Cold water is provided by taps located under the benches - when overwhelmed by the heat, a bather may dump a bucket of frigid water over his head while still in the hot room, or may step outside to use the cold pools.

Several attendants are usually on hand in the hot rooms to give a plaitza or "rub"- a scrubbing with a handheld birch broom or a bundle of leafy oak twigs. The customer receiving this will lay naked on a sheet, usually with a towel over his face, and be scrubbed thoroughly, front and back, then doused with cold water to remove the soap. This is an additional service which costs ten dollars.

Division Bath is the only traditional bathhouse remaining in Chicago, and one of only a handful in the United States. Authors who have written about it include Nelson Algren and Saul Bellow. One of its most prominent regular customers in recent years has been Reverend Jesse Jackson - a fact that brought the bathhouse some publicity when it was first reported in the mainstream press. Mobster Sam Giancana was also said to have come here, and various out-of-town celebrities such as James Gandolfini and Russell Crowe have occasionally visited; their autographed portraits line a corridor on the first floor.

External links

• Official website
• Metromix.com: Division Street Russian and Turkish Baths
• Newcity Chicago: Steam Heat - Taking A Trip Through One of the City's Remaining Ethnic Bathhouses
• Russian-bath.com review

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