Résidence Palace Swimming Pool
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Avant-garde or utopian, the Residence Palace was designed by the Swiss architect, Michel Polak, in order to house a series of luxury residences (certain flats contained up to 24 rooms!) and many services intended to facilitate the residents’ lives.
Of an Art Deco style, related to Paquebot architecture, the building, now occupied by the Buildings Authority (Régie des Bâtiments), the International Press Centre and the Residence Palace Theatre, was built between 1922 and 1928. It has preserved not only an admirable entertainment room but also an astonishing swimming pool of Pompeian style, the Art Deco wall painting decoration of which offers a set of original colours. If the general design is inspired by that of the swimming pools of the period, especially for the arrangement of the cabins opening directly on to the pool, in this particular case the quality of the decoration will be noticed, giving the place an intimate and pleasant atmosphere. The grotesque figure overhanging the fountain is reminiscent of ancient baths and thermal baths alike.
