Hale Bathhouse and Hotel Hale

Hale Bathhouse is the historic Bathhouse Row building that now houses Hotel Hale, a nine-suite inn, and its onsite Eden restaurant. It sits on Central Avenue in downtown Hot Springs. It isn't a public bathhouse museum, so don't plan on wandering through the old rooms. The reason to stay is the suite tub, supplied with real Hot Springs mineral water. If you're here for the architecture, take it in as part of a walk along Bathhouse Row; if you want to stay, there are only nine rooms, so plan ahead.

Each individually styled suite has a soaking tub fed with thermal spring water. That's the distinctive part of the stay: you can soak in the same mineral water the bathhouses were built around, without leaving your room. The hotel lists one ADA-compliant suite, but doesn't spell out access through the whole historic building; ask about the specific features and route you need.

Eden is the onsite restaurant, in a garden-like room beneath a skylight and planted living wall. The hotel recommends reservations, especially for brunch. Parking and luggage drop-off on the downtown strip can take some sorting out, so ask the hotel what to expect before you arrive.

The name reaches back to John Hale, an early bathhouse owner. The current building wasn't the first Hale on this site: the National Park Service counts at least four buildings with the name. A bathhouse built after an 1879 water lease stood here before today's structure.

Most of the present building was completed in 1892 by George and Fremont Orff, and it's the oldest visible structure on Bathhouse Row. A 1914 expansion brought Classical Revival details, including arched upper windows. In 1939, a Mission Revival redesign added the stucco, red tile roof, Spanish bell gable and iron grilles that give the facade its current look. The old lobby also served as a sunroom where bathhouse guests rested; marble remains at the entrance.

A natural cave cut into the hillside behind the bathhouse served as a hot room in the 1890s. It was rediscovered during a drainage project in 1993 and is now a protected archaeological site, not part of a casual hotel tour. A separate tiled enclosure capturing a hot spring was built in 1917 and remains in the basement.