Qualla: Venetian Pool: The Quarry That Became a Lagoon

Venetian Pool: The Quarry That Became a Lagoon: Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Elisa Rolle, CC BY-SA 3.0. It started as a hole in the ground -- a four-acre coral rock quarry, abandoned in 1921, left behind after the limestone was hauled away to build the homes of Coral Gables. The pit was an eyesore in George Merrick's carefully planned Mediterranean Revival city, and nobody wanted to live next to it. So Merrick hired artist-architect Denman Fink and architect Phineas Paist to do something no one had tried: turn the ugly gash in the earth into a Venetian lagoon. They lined the quarry walls with concrete, carved out grottoes and caves, added waterfalls, bridges, and mooring posts styled after Venice, and let the underground aquifer do the rest. When the Venetian Pool opened in 1924, 820,000 gallons of spring water filled what had been worthless rock. It is the only swimming pool listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Read more: Venetian Pool on Qualla

Image: Elisa Rolle | CC BY-SA 3.0

Venetian Pool: The Quarry That Became a Lagoon: Where the Symphony Played Underwater

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Abujoy, CC BY 3.0. The quarry's steep coral walls gave the Venetian Pool something unexpected: natural acoustics worthy of a concert hall. Early in its history, the pool was regularly drained completely so the Miami Symphony could perform on the dry quarry floor, musicians seated where swimmers had...

Read more: Venetian Pool on Qualla

Image: Abujoy | CC BY 3.0

Venetian Pool: The Quarry That Became a Lagoon: George Merrick's Dream City

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daniel Di Palma, CC BY-SA 4.0. The pool makes sense only in the context of Coral Gables itself. George Merrick envisioned an entire planned city built in Mediterranean Revival style, with plazas, boulevards, and ornamental limestone features drawn from the architecture of southern Europe. The rock quarry was a...

Read more: Venetian Pool on Qualla

Image: Daniel Di Palma | CC BY-SA 4.0

Venetian Pool: The Quarry That Became a Lagoon: Gondolas, Diving Platforms, and a Century of Change

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daniel Di Palma, CC BY-SA 4.0. The pool has been reinvented several times. In its early years, a large island was built in the center so Venetian-style gondolas could dock alongside it, carrying visitors across the turquoise water as though they were gliding down a canal in Venice. The gondolas were eventually...

Read more: Venetian Pool on Qualla

Image: Daniel Di Palma | CC BY-SA 4.0

Venetian Pool: The Quarry That Became a Lagoon: Swimming in History

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daniel Di Palma, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today the Venetian Pool sits along De Soto Boulevard in Coral Gables, surrounded by the Mediterranean Revival homes that its quarry stone helped build. The coral rock walls rise around the water, lush with tropical vegetation -- vines draping over the carved edges, palm trees sha...

Read more: Venetian Pool on Qualla

Image: Daniel Di Palma | CC BY-SA 4.0