Piscine Molitor, Art Deco swimming pool in 16th arrondissement, France
Piscine Molitor is a swimming complex in the 16th arrondissement featuring Art Deco design with an indoor pool beneath a glass roof and an outdoor Olympic basin flanked by sandy areas. The renovated site now houses a hotel with 124 rooms and a spa facility spanning 1700 square meters with treatment areas, steam room, sauna, and relaxation zones.
Built in 1929 by architect Lucien Pollet for Les Belles Piscines de France, the complex was inaugurated by Olympic swimmers Aileen Riggin Soule and Johnny Weissmuller, who worked there as a lifeguard that summer. Closed on 31 August 1989, it was listed as a monument historique on 27 March 1990 after the SOS Molitor campaign. A free party by the Heretik collective drew about 5,000 people in April 2001; after a €64.8 million redevelopment, it reopened on 19 May 2014.
The pool hosted a pivotal fashion moment when a revolutionary swimwear design debuted here in 1946, introducing a new silhouette to the world. This event links the venue to mid-century style and leisure culture.
The complex sits at Porte Molitor, between Roland-Garros and the Parc des Princes, beside the Bois de Boulogne, with entrances on boulevard d'Auteuil, rue Nungesser-et-Coli and avenue de la Porte-Molitor. The 2014 rebuild added a 124-room hotel, restaurant, bar, rooftop terrace and Clarins spa alongside the winter and summer pools. The outdoor basin measures 46 metres, the covered one 33 metres.
During its two decades of abandonment from 1989 to 2012, street artists used the empty pools and walls as canvases for their work. Elements of this urban art legacy shaped the design approach of the current renovated complex.
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