3 Dreamy Pool Houses

By Dylan Roche

Island in the City

BarnesVanze Architects

Beyond the property line, only a few steps away, the city may be bustling, but if you are beside the pool in the backyard of this Spanish Revival-style house overlooking an urban park, you feel as if you are in a distant oasis. The sunny banks of the Mediterranean come to mind. The pool house is composed of stucco walls, clay tile roofing, and carved wooden brackets, reflecting the main home’s Spanish-Revival-style details.

Creating this pool house took ingenuity on the part of architects Steve Vanze and Melanie Giordano of BarnesVanze Architects, as well as Abe Sari of Alliance Builders. Vanze explains that he and Giordano had already designed additions and renovations to the main house years before; they wanted to ensure the same style carried over to the pool house.

Mediterranean though the pool house may appear, it was still subject to city regulations, which required Vanze and Giordano to place it along an axis with the main house. This placement gave it a beautiful view not only of the pool but also of a major park and the city line beyond—some views that were planned and some that “were a fortuitous surprise,” says Vanze.

The exterior of the pool house complements the landscape architecture by Amy Mills of DCA Landscape Architects. The inside is elevated by interior designer Lisa Vandenburg, who used blue and turquoise tones to reflect a sense of sky and water. These appear most notably in the turquoise ceramic coffee table and the Moroccan tiles. All of this draws on the Spanish and North African art collections that decorate the inside of the main house—treasures the owners have brought home from their many world travels.

The design is practical as well, making use of waterproof fabrics and indoor-outdoor furniture. When the owners are not traveling the world, their pool house provides the next best thing: an exciting and glamorous escape.

ARCHITECT: BarnesVanze Architects, Washington, DC. INTERIOR DESIGNER: Lisa Vandenburgh, Ltd., Washington DC. BUILDER/CONTRACTOR: Alliance Builders, Annapolis, Maryland. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: DCA Landscape Architects, Inc., Washington, DC. PHOTOGRAPHER: Anice Hoachlander

Pool With A View

Christine M. Dayton Architect

The boundaries between outside and inside seem to disappear with this idyllic pool house that serves as an extension of the main house on a property overlooking the Tred Avon River. The pool house is a miniature of the main house, with its architectural similarities and shingled exterior. The two structures are connected by the pool deck and a full outdoor kitchen just outside the main house’s screened kitchen.

Susanne Fyffe of Fyffe Landscape Architecture envisioned redoing the existing open-air outdoor kitchen and then designing a pool and pool house complex that would be better integrated with the existing house. Christine M. Dayton, principle of Christine M. Dayton Architect, who came to the project to design the pool house, commented, “During my initial meeting, Susanne conveyed her idea to renovate the existing outdoor patio to accommodate a larger, more accommodating outdoor kitchen that would be a part of the pool and pool house area.”

Due to a setback involving the criteria concerning lot coverage, they had only a small strip of land within which to work. To make the entire pool complex a seamless extension—going from the main house to outdoor kitchen to patio to pool house—the plan incorporates a patio raised to the height of the screened porch and covered outdoor eating area. At the front of the pool house, a folding door system opens up, making the lounge area of the patio and pool house feel like one connected space. This makes it easy to have social activity flow from the patio into the pool house or for someone to slip away from the party to enjoy a quiet moment beside the lounge’s fireplace. “The lounge space offers a relaxing space to curl up on the sofa to read or the option to be a part of the pool area activity,” Dayton says.

Tall windows bring in plenty of natural light and offer breathtaking water views. In fact, there’s a view of the water from every room in the pool house, whether it’s the lounge, the guest bedroom, or the bathroom and its walk-in shower. With this transparency, the entire pool complex becomes a natural extension of a home that communes with the water.

ARCHITECT: Christine M. Dayton Architect, Easton, Maryland. BUILDER: ILEX Construction, Easton, Maryland. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Fyffe Landscape Architecture, Arlington, Virginia

Multi-use Pleasure

McHale Landscape Design

The unassuming little pool house on the edge of the lush green yard came to have a specific name for Phil McHale, COO of McHale Landscape Design, and his team. “We coined it ‘the little jewel box,’” he says. “It’s not your average pool house—it’s so much more than that.” With its traditional appearance from the outside, the pool house is both simple and dramatic. Kelly designed the space with functionality in mind, as he knew his clients wanted to use it for more than simply entertaining when spending time by the pool. They wanted to find a way to make this pool house part of their daily life and added many special appointments.

The main level of the pool house has a comfortable living room where the clients can relax or entertain guests. Above is a loft that serves as a home office, and downstairs is a home gym. Both the office and gym are accessible by spiral staircases, which take up less space than typical stairs would in the pool house’s minimal footprint. The staircases comprise a glass system with floating stairs for an open, airy quality.

Like the pool house itself, the hardwood floors and earth tones that run throughout the pool house reflect nature. Light blue walls blend in with the sky just outside the expansive windows, and green granite in the bathroom draws on the grass and trees outside.

When the doors to the pool house open up, they create an easy transition from the pool deck into the entertaining room. From the pool itself, it’s easy to see the television mounted over the built-in fireplace, and with speakers placed strategically throughout the pool area, the audio remains consistent no matter where you’re standing.

Whether it’s a day spent relaxing beside the pool with friends or any busy day of the week calling for an exercise session and remote work, this “jewel” of a pool house fulfills multiple needs.