Outdoor Swimming Pool

No Cannonballs, Please

The swimming pool and cabana were installed in 1975 by Gerald Ford, an avid swimmer. Ford didn't want to evict the White House press corps in order to refurbish the indoor swimming pool under the Press Briefing Room. When it was complete, President Ford showed off for the press and continued to use it frequently. Jack Ford immediately took scuba diving lessons in it. A cabana was later added to provide a changing area and showers and to screen the pool from the West Wing. An underground passage was even created from to allow the first family to get to the cabana from the West Wing ground floor without going outside.

Later, Amy Carter practiced her diving technique here. Barbara Bush was one of the pool's most frequent users, despite once having discovered a rat sharing the water. Hillary Clinton also enjoyed it (she considered renovating the indoor pool and moving the press to a new facility). The Clintons also installed an outdoor spa.

In 2002, as part of usual renovations and a new effort to make the White House more eficient, the cabana was renovated: extra were windows added, the roof was raised, and a solar array was put on top.

The solar thermal array uses water heated in pipes by the sun; not photovoltaic cells creating electricity. It provides hot water to the cabana. What is not used there is used to heat the outdoor spa installed by the Clintons. Remaining heat is used to help heat the pool.

The solar array was designed to blend in with the roof of the cabana and, even on close inspection, appear no more obtrusive than a skylight. James Doherty, an architect with the National Park Service White House Liaison Office, managed the solar installations. Since the White House grounds were designated a national park, the NPS has responsibility for and jurisdiction over the lawn, gardens, and buildings. Additional solar arrays were added to the maintenance building in the southwest corner of the South Lawn, directly south of the swimming pool.

Prior to 1975, this area was just part of the south lawn, screened on the west side by trees and bushes.