A peculiar apartment in Cincinnati, Ohio, is going viral after a woman showed that its carpeted living room area used to house a massive swimming pool.
TikTok user @vidswLyds piqued everyone's curiosity when she shared a virtual tour of the unconventional apartment in The Williams, a 94-year-old building in Walnut Hills that once housed the W.J. Williams YMCA.
Highlights
- A woman discovered an apartment built inside a renovated swimming pool in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- The apartment contains original pool features like tiles, a ladder, and signs reading "shallow" and "do not swim alone".
- The Williams building, constructed in the late 1920s, is on the National Register of Historic Places and once housed the W.J. Williams YMCA.
"I can't decide if that's the coolest thing ever or if it's really weird," @vidswLyds said in the video.
Image credits: vidswlyds
"You have people over, and they're like, 'You live in a pool?' I don't know, why is that kind of cool?"
In addition to the tiles and ladder, the 2100-square-foot apartment contains signs reading "shallow" on the walls and "do not swim alone" in the upstairs area.
The renovated residence features a kitchen attached to the former recreational area. Above is a loft area that could be used as a bedroom. There are also one-and-a-half bathrooms in the apartment, which has access to a rooftop deck.
According to City Center Properties, which owns the building, two apartments in The Williams are built inside a swimming pool.
The building once housed the W.J. Williams YMCA and its massive swimming pool
Image credits: vidswlyds
In 2016, The Williams joined the National Register of Historic Places and Cincinnati's list of local historic landmarks.
The historic building also features apartments that appear to have been built inside an old basketball court.
The four-story Tudor Revival building, later called the W.J. Williams YMCA, reflected a design popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The upper floors of the building initially featured a dormitory for 68 residents, as per The Enquirer.
Watch a virtual tour of the swimming pool-turned-apartment below:
The unique apartment provoked varying opinions online. While some said they would pack their bags to move without a second thought, others weren't so keen on watching TV where people used to splash around decades ago.
"If they redid the floors, I would be sold, but there's no way we're keeping the YMCA tile," said one TikTok user.
"I think it would be cooler if they did a better job on the renovation," another person agreed.
"This has really sinister vibes. I can't put my finger on it," a third commenter added.
The renovated residence features a kitchen attached to the former recreational area and an upstairs loft area that could be used for a bedroom
Image credits: CityCenterProperties
A separate user praised the apartment, writing, "Sunken living room and extra chilling space around the pool. Could be a dope set up."
"It's fun to stay at the YMCA!" another commented, to which @vidswLyds confessed, "I'd play YMCA every day if I lived there."
"I love it. It's a great use of space. I wish someone would turn abandoned office space & malls into condos," an additional user said.
The former swimming pool, now a carpeted living room area, is still lined with tiles and has a walking rail around it
Image credits: CityCenterProperties
The large swimming pool is one of many unlikely spaces that have been transformed into a home. In 2019, a man named Sampson Dahl moved into a former laundromat in Queens, New York.
He decorated the home, which he found on an online forum, with unique pieces he obtained from his job as a production designer in TV and film.
"In a place that values commercial success and economic growth, it's rare to be able to enjoy stasis in a place like this," the young man explained. Before that, he used to live in a warehouse in Chicago.
In addition to the tiles and ladder, the 2100-square-foot apartment contains signs reading "shallow" on the walls and "do not swim alone" in the upstairs area
Image credits: CityCenterProperties
Image credits: CityCenterProperties
The unique apartment is listed from $1635 to $2775 on the City Center Properties website
Image credits: CityCenterProperties
Furthermore, Jazz, a 25-year-old single mom from the UK who is facing soaring rent costs, transformed a double-decker bus into a home for herself and her five-year-old son.
In February, the resourceful mom from Cornwall, UK, shared clips of herself building, remodeling, demolishing, and assembling pieces for her and her son's future home.
"It'd be cooler if they did a better job on the renovation," a TikTok user wrote
