The replacement bathhouse was designed in the Art Moderne style, similar to the Astoria Play Center, in Astoria, Queens. The building was upheld by the architect Ely Jacques Kahn as being "above all...intended for enjoyable use", while parks commissioner Robert Moses called its plans "better than that adopted in any of the existing pools". On the other hand, Embury, known to be a traditionalist in his designs, criticized the style. He once said of modernist architects: "They leave off all ornamentation because, they say, the ornaments do not aid the structure to do its job." Architectural historian Robert A. M. Stern said the Betsy Head Play Center was "perhaps the most inventive and most
