5. There are ruins of a swimming pool
When Helen Gould desired a Natatorium, she built a pool on property around 1911. Inspired by the Roman Baths that were popular at the time, many called the pool “Helen’s Bath.” The building that enclosed the pool was surrounded by columns and covered by a glass skylight. No one attended to the pool when coal was unavailable to heat the boilers during World War II.
Although the pool was closed to the public for 40 years, it once again opened to the public in 2020. Although a site to see on the Garden and Grounds tour, the pool is also open for the “Watershed Moment” site-specific art installation. According to artist Jorge Otero-Pailos, the exhibit “invites visitors to pause and reflect on the memories, both personal, social, and environmental, that define each of us.”
