But the real dream—and the heart of Pocketbook—is in the building across its courtyard, away from the rooms, the bar, the restaurant, and the shops. It is The Baths, the hotel’s new spa, which is currently open to guests and will open for day visits in May.
To get there, you cross the grass courtyard and enter a small lobby, where you sign in with the staff, and they switch out your shoes for bath slippers. As you enter, there’s a changing room with cubbies for your things. Turn the corner, and you’re met by a white-tiled scrubbing and shower station that opens up into the thermal pool area, an open space with a 40-foot vaulted ceiling and wooden beams overhead. The brick walls glimmer, lit by wall sconces and shimmering reflections of the water. Windows dot the walls, letting in a flood of light. The pools feel oriented inward, toward each other, in a way that reminded me of a Quaker meeting house. The space does feel almost church-like in its stillness and serenity.
The entrance to The Baths.
Photo: Sean Davidson, Courtesy of Pocketbook Hudson
The Baths, with rubber works by Rich Aybar in the foreground.
Photo: Sean Davidson, Courtesy of Pocketbook Hudson
The Baths were designed by an in-house team of Caitlin Baidia, Mary Keena Frisbee, and WangShui, led by Nancy Kim, who tells Vogue that the team envisioned the Baths as “a place to welcome sensory immersion and dissolve the boundary between self and environment.” (They took inspiration from iconic spas from around the world, including the 7132 Hotel’s thermal baths in Switzerland, Fosso Bianco in Italy, and the Blue Lagoon in Iceland.)
Within the 6,000-square-foot space, there are three pools: a 100-degree saltwater pool with sea salt from Amagansett; a 104-degree pool with timed jets, and a 55-degree cold plunge. To start the bathing circuit, you go to the scrubbing station, where you can exfoliate while sitting on custom rubber stools by Rich Aybar that look like honey.
