Swim along as we explore various pools from Historic Artists' Homes and Studios and National Trust Historic Sites around the country. These pools are works of art, sites of inspiration, and in at least one case, a lifeline. Here the water may be cool, but the history runs deep.

The Glass House (New Canaan, Connecticut)

Five years after the construction of The Glass House, a National Trust Historic Site, architect Philip Johnson designed a circular pool for the northeast corner of the courtyard where a Lipshitz sculpture once stood. Sure, at 6 feet 4 inches deep, you could swim in it, but that was never the point. The pool is a statement, a sculptural form as deliberate as The Glass House itself. It is based on the pure geometry that Johnson embraced in his designs.

With its flawless circular form and accented by an adjacent rectangular ledge, this pool is more than just water and concrete. It is art itself, reminiscent of the early twentieth-century work by artist Kasimir Malevich. The pool uses a similar design vocabulary as the MoMA sculpture garden, which was designed around the same time by Johnson.

From most angles, you wouldn’t even know the pool was there, hidden nearly flush with the ground. But catch it from the right vantage point, up on the slope by the Painting and Sculpture Galleries, and it becomes a bold, geometric statement against the landscape.

Kykuit (Tarrytown, New York)

National Trust Historic Site Kykuit’s Beaux-Arts landscape architect, William Welles Bosworth, knew the power of a pool on a landscape. Inspired by the grandeur of 16th-century Italian terraced gardens like Villa Lante and Villa d’Este, he created something timeless: three pools, lined with an elaborate pebble mosaic of concentric circles in black and white.

In Bosworth’s words, “The pool is fed from a stalactite grotto, and by a system of jets which fill it with a misty spray, evanescent with rainbows when the sun is shining.” (The Gardens of Kijkuit [sic], 1919). Imagine that—a pool that not only reflects the sky but catches rainbows too. Flanked by two natural stone bridges leading to smaller overflow pools, above which perched stone statues of Tritons blow on their shell-shaped horns, it’s not just a pool—it's a luxurious experience, a moment in time captured in water and stone.

Lyndhurst (Tarrytown, New York)

For six days a week, the pool was open, fully staffed, offering free swimming lessons to the community. Inside, there was an entry lounge with wicker furniture that still graces Lyndhurst today, along with dressing rooms for men and women. The pool itself, covered by a glass roof and surrounded by tropical palm trees from the estate’s greenhouse, was so large that the lifeguard had to patrol it from a rowboat. It was said to be one of the finest and most sophisticated pools in the country—a true testament to Helen Gould’s vision of a place that served both her family and her community.

The Block/La Mansana de Chinati, Judd Foundation (Marfa, Texas)

At The Block/La Mansana de Chinati, Donald Judd didn’t just build walls—he created sanctuaries. In one city block, he enclosed six distinct garden areas within a twelve-foot adobe wall. On the east side, a concrete pool stretches north to south, with a gentle in-ground slope that draws the eye. Judd surrounded this pool with twelve cottonwood trees, planted in a precise pattern to form a cruciform structure. It’s as if the trees and the pool are in conversation.

Last year, the Judd Foundation replanted these cottonwoods with a native Rio Grande variety. These trees aren’t just decoration; they’re keystone species in the ecosystem of the Rio Grande woodlands.

For millions of years, they’ve stood tall along the creeks and rivers of southwest Texas and New Mexico, providing a habitat for multiple other species and play a key role in the lifecycle of the soil and river. Now, as part of the Foundation’s land stewardship programs, these native species are finding their way back to Marfa. The Judd Foundation is a member of the National Trust’s Historic Artists' Homes and Studios (HAHS) program.

Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park (Cornish, New Hampshire)

While influential sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens may have spent many hours laboring away in his studios in Cornish, he still made time to enjoy one of his favorite leisure activities: swimming. During his time living at Aspet, his home that is now on the site of Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, Saint-Gaudens enjoyed two different swimming pools along with family and friends.

There was the rugged, humanmade swimming hole, comprised of a fieldstone dam in the cold waters of Blow-Me-Up Brook, accessible only by an ox cart path.

Then there was the more refined pool, nestled behind his studio, which was constructed sometime in the mid-1890s.

Saint-Gaudens was well-known amongst his friends as an avid swimmer, someone who “...loved the sun and air...loved swimming in deep pools, and the sound of running water.” Even as illness took away his ability to swim, he still cherished these swimming spots.

Today, the pools are no longer there, but visitors can still see their remnants and imagine the echoes of laughter, the ripples of water, and joy of summer days experienced by Saint-Gaudens, his son Homer, and many other artists of the Cornish Colony. The Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site is a member of the HAHS program.

LongHouse Reserve (Hampton, New York)

Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center (Garrison, New York)

Manitoga’s Quarry Pool is the heart and central focal point of this nationally landmarked property, which is part of the National Trust’s HAHS program. Mid-century designers Mary and Russel Wright took an abandoned quarry and transformed it into a place of extraordinary beauty and life—where swimming, boating, and picnicking turned into treasured family memories.

Wright redirected a stream over the quarry’s cliff creating a waterfall to feed the pool, and above, perched their modernist House and Studio with expansive views to the surrounding landscape.

Today, the site is a wellspring for creativity, an amphitheater for art, music and dance, and a gathering place filled with joy. Whether serene or animated, the waters of Manitoga continue to bring sound, wonder, and a touch of magic to this timeless place. Manitoga is a member of the HAHS program.

Olana State Historic Site (Hudson, New York)

It might not be your typical pool, but the Lake at Olana State Historic Site, part of the National Trust’s HAHS program, is something we can’t ignore. When Frederic Edwin Church, an artist with an eye for the extraordinary, bought a hillside farm south of Hudson, New York, in 1860, his vision for a future comprehensive designed landscape included a lake that would become central to the project, acting as both a focal point and a mirror to the sky.

Lake excavation began almost immediately, and for the next 20 years, farmers and laborers dug out the ‘muck’ from a low-lying marshy area on Church's property, slowly shaping the artist’s dream into reality.