The studio contains a variety of different machines that Joseph Pilates developed whilst interned in the UK during WW1.  He cleverly used his enforced leisure to devise his own technique, using influences ranging from Yoga to animal movement.  

After the war he returned to Germany, and worked with pioneers of movement technique, before leaving for New York City in 1923.  This was when he set up his first studio on 8th Avenue, with his wife, Clara, whom he met on the boat to NYC.