In 1884, Blasie’s Imperial Porcelain Baths were, we are told, the only establishment in Albany where porcelain bath tubs were in use. If the most fastidious did, in fact, concede that for beauty, comfort and cleanliness these baths had no equal, it’s then a fair assumption that patrons visited them prior to the application of Blasie’s 50-cent instantaneous hair and whisker dye. Not after.
Public baths were a thing back then. The city ran a number of them. The last of them didn’t close until 2010, though it was really a swimming pool by then, rather than a communal bath house.
I’m a little confused by the location; the old building numbers don’t always line up with with modern buildings, but the odds and evens mostly still apply. The Mansion House was once, though perhaps not always, just south of the R.B. Wing building, but that side of the street is even-numbered. Nevertheless, if this is referring to that location, then perhaps the building that housed Blasie’s on Broadway still stands.