The buyers of a new, 12,000 square foot Georgian home commissioned Soper Babcock Associates to design a pool house complex for their three-acre property in Greenwich, Connecticut. The pool house site is located at the northwest corner of the property framed by the projecting family room wing of the main house and zoning setbacks of the rear and side yards. The new pool house is a three-volume structure with the centrally located “common area” occupying the dominant mass. Flanking the common area is a bathroom and changing room to the north and a bicycle storage room to the south. A full basement below provides ample storage for outdoor furniture and houses mechanical space for pool filter and H.V.A.C. equipment.
The pool house exterior matches the main house slate roofing, trim detailing, and Flemish bond brick veneer and quoin work. In a departure from the all brick main house exterior, custom mahogany clapboard siding is utilized to give the pool house a slightly less formal aesthetic. A covered terrace with raised seam copper roof and square Tuscan columns projects toward the pool with views to the rear yard and garden pavilion beyond. The focal point of the pool house interior is the “old moss” stone veneer wall and fireplace opposite the “lift and slide” entrance doors. Paired casement windows flank the fireplace and flood the space with afternoon light.
Indiana limestone is utilized for the fireplace surround, window sills and lintels above, harmonizing perfectly with the stone veneer color mosaic. The ceiling is cathedral and, being a hip roof, slopes up on all four sides of the space to the windowed cupola shaft. A simulated post and beam roof structure including rafters, trusses, continuous perimeter beams and corner posts are fabricated in walnut. Bleached knotty yellow pine planking completes the ceiling assembly. Walnut is also the material of choice for the common area kitchen cabinets and changing room lockers. R.R. Builders of New Canaan, CT, was the general contractor for the project.
Drawing: Greenwich Poolhouse Exterior Elevations