Gary Bathing Beach Aquatorium

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Gary Bathing Beach Aquatorium

| nrhp_type =

| image = Aquatorium.jpg

| caption =

| location = One Marquette Dr., Marquette Park, Gary, Indiana

| coordinates = {{coord|41|37|11|N|87|15|24|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Indiana#USA

| map_caption = Location in Indiana##Location in United States

| built = {{Start date|1921}}

| architect = George Washington Maher

| architecture = Prairie School, Classical Revival

| added = November 25, 1994

| area = {{convert|6|acre}}

| refnum = 94001354{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

}}

File:Marquette Park (Gary, IN) - Lakefront Park Bathhouse-Aquatorium.jpg

Gary Bathing Beach Aquatorium, formerly known as Lakefront Park Bathhouse and also known as Chanute Aquatorium, is located at One Marquette Drive at Miller Beach in Marquette Park, Gary, Indiana. The aquatorium was designed by George Washington Maher and constructed in 1921.[http://spicerweb.org/Miller/bathhouse.aspx Gary Bathing Beach Bathhouse] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 25, 1994. It has been converted to a museum of flight, honoring Octave Chanute and the Tuskegee Airmen.

It was built as a shower/bathroom/changing facility in 1921 and was dubbed the Lakefront Park Bathhouse. It was a major focal point of the Miller Beach community for decades. The building is architecturally significant as one of the earliest examples of pre-cast concrete modular construction. Ninety percent of the building is built with only six basic cast blocks, the most basic being the T-Block, a precursor of today's standard concrete block.[http://www.spicerweb.org/miller/parks/marqpark.aspx Miller Beach Neighborhood]{{cite web| url = https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/welcome.html| title = Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD) | publisher = Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology | format = Searchable database| access-date = 2016-05-01}} Note: This includes {{cite web| url =https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/218b0/N/Gary_Bathing_Beach_Aquatorium_Lake_CO_Nom.pdf| title = National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Gary Bathing Beach Aquatorium| access-date = 2016-05-01| author=Gregory H. Jenkins and Carol Ann Schweikert| format = PDF| date=November 1993}} and Accompanying photographs.

By the 1960s the facility was falling into major disrepair. In 1971 the building was closed to the public and boarded up.[http://www.spicerweb.org/Miller/bathhouse.aspx Miller Community]

The Aquatorium was rescued from demolition by the Chanute Aquatorium Society in 1991. The Society invented the word Aquatorium{{citation needed|date=November 2013}} meaning "place to view the water" in order to disassociate the structure with the word bathhouse.