Crystal Pool

Crystal Pool. The Cristalla site is the original home of the Crystal Pool Natatorium. Known as Crystal Pool, the building was commissioned in 1913 by Seattle dignitary C. D. Stimson and designed by architect Marcus Priteca, a prominent West Coast designer famed for designing the Coliseum, Paramount, Orpheum and Pantages theatres. , Built in 1915, Crystal Pool showcased one of the most elaborate terra cotta facades in Seattle and a grand entry pergola dome. The ornate natatorium advertised "warm water ocean swimming." It was one of the most popular gathering spots in the city during the 1920s and 1930s and Seattle's primary aquatic center. To fill the pool, the city pumped salt water up the hill from Puget Sound. The entire roof above the pool was made of glass and considered a spectacular engineering feat for its day. , After the swimming pool closed the building was used as a boxing venue and an ice skating rink. In the 1940s it was purchased by Bethel Ministries and converted into a church. The original pergola dome was removed from the building in the early 1960s. , Cristalla 2005-Present, At the turn of the twentieth century Cristalla LLC purchased the site from the Bethel Ministries and built Cristalla. The new residential tower, completed in 2005, honors the history of the Crystal Pool by restoring the Italian Renaissance façade and rebuilding a steel and glass pergola dome that mirrors the original.