Queen City Pool and Pool House
The Queen City Pool and Pool House (also known as the Queen City Pool) is a historic bathhouse and swimming pool located in at the intersection of Jack Warner Parkway and Queen City Avenue in Tuscaloosa. The bathhouse and pool were added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 9, 1992, due to its architectural and historical significance. At present, the former pool house has been renovated and is in use as the Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum.
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice Don Buel Schuyler, the Queen City Pool served as the first public swimming pool in Tuscaloosa. The project was approved by the Tuscaloosa City Council on March 18, 1941. At the time of its approval, the project was estimated to cost $117,000 to complete with the majority financed by the federal government with $25,000 provided from the David Warner Foundation.
Opening on May 18, 1943, and costing $125,000 to complete, it was constructed as a Civil Works Administration/Works Project Administration relief project of the Great Depression. Located in Queen City Park, the site features a poured concrete bathhouse with a diameter of 75 feet, a wading pool and an art deco fountain. The original swimming pool measured 60 feet wide by 168 feet long. The former swimming pool was filled in with dirt in June 2005.
Closed since 1989, in May 2005, it was announced the bathhouse would be converted into a transportation museum. This was possible after the Alabama Department of Transportation awarded the city a grant to convert the facility into a museum illustrating the history of transportation in Tuscaloosa. The financing for the project comes from a $1.94 million federal award that requires a 20 percent match by the city. The renovation designs for the facility were completed by the Eclectic Group, Inc. of Huntsville and Ward Scott Veron Architects of Tuscaloosa. The renovation into the museum should be complete in summer 2011.
References
- Staff Reporters (March 19, 1941) "City approves park project". p. 1 The Tuscaloosa News
- Staff Reporters (May 19, 1943) "Park improvement seen at dedication of pool". p. 1 The Tuscaloosa News
- Ford, Gene (March 29, 1992) "Queen City Pool still bears some significance". p. 6B The Tuscaloosa News
- Ladd, Joan (January 21, 1993) "City pool given national historic status". p. 2B The Tuscaloosa News
- Calloway, LeMont (June 21, 2005). "Renovation of Queen City Park is poised to begin". The Tuscaloosa News
- Cobb, Mark Hughes (April 27, 2009). "Transportation museum project in motion". The The Tuscaloosa News