Venetian Pool

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name = Venetian Pool

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caption = Venetian Pool, the city of Coral Gables' public swimming pool.
location = Coral Gables, Florida USA
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area = convert|4|acre|m2
architect = Phineas Paist
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built = 1924
added = August 20, 1981
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The Venetian Pool is a U.S. public pool located in Coral Gables, Florida. It was created from an old coral rock quarry abandoned in 1921 on four acres.

History

The pool gets its name from the theme of a Venetian lagoon, complete with Venetian style bridge and classic mooring posts. The pool occupies a shallow quarry displacing some 820,000 gallons (3,100 m³) of fresh water daily from artesian wells, making it the largest freshwater pool in the United States. The Venetian Pool is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The pool was designed by architect Phineas Paist and completed in the spring of 1924. The pool received a massive historical restoration in 1989.

The pool ranges in depth from four feet to depths of over eight feet near the grand waterfall, with a two foot kiddy pool near the lifeguard station; the station is atop a bridge leading out to an island with two full size palm trees on it. A grotto, where natural water-filled caves stretch back over twelve feet into the hillside, is located across the pool from the island. There is a sandy sunning area for sunbathers and a café area that is commonly used for weddings and receptions. A walking path surrounds the whole complex.

The pool has gone through several phases, in which a large additional island was created to allow Venetian style Gondolas to dock alongside, later removed; a high diving platform was constructed above the grand waterfall and later torn down; and the pool has in the past been drained completely to permit the Miami Symphony to perform in it, taking advantage of the quarry's natural acoustic qualities. The pool has also been used as a bathing area for the impoverished Bush Babies in times of need, especially during the early 1940s.

The pool has come under criticism from environmentalists lately due to the massive amounts of fresh water it uses daily, raising concerns that the process of completely draining the pool every night and refilling it the following day was depleting the Floridian aquifers. In 1998 a solution was devised to drain the water back into the aquifer, using natural ground filtration, thus recycling the precious natural resource, while allowing the pool to maintain its fresh, clear, and unchlorinated water.

Gallery

External links

* [http://www.gablesrecreation.com/ The Official Coral Gables Venetian Pool Web Site]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=19&ll=25.745779,-80.273146&spn=0.001104,0.001808 Aerial color image of Venetian Pool]