Bored Panda works better on our iPhone app
Continue in app Continue in browser

The Bored Panda iOS app is live! Fight boredom with iPhones and iPads here.

“Is This Cool Or Weird?” Woman Realizes Apartment Is Inside A Pool After Seeing “Shallow” Sign
“Is This Cool Or Weird?” Woman Realizes Apartment Is Inside A Pool After Seeing “Shallow” Sign

“Is This Cool Or Weird?” Woman Realizes Apartment Is Inside A Pool After Seeing “Shallow” Sign

28

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

The video shows the former swimming pool lined with tiles and a walking rail around it.

“I can’t decide if that’s the coolest thing ever or if it’s really weird,” @vidswLyds said in the video. 

BP Daily - Your Source for Unbiased Reporting

    Image credits: vidswlyds

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “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 toCity 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

    The pool-turned-apartment is listed from $1635 to $2775 on the City Center Propertieswebsite.

    In 2016, The Williams joined the National Register of Historic Places and Cincinnati’s list of local historic landmarks.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    The historic building also features apartments that appear to have been built inside anold 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 perThe Enquirer.

    Watch a virtual tour of the swimming pool-turned-apartment below:

    @vidswlyds Apartment IN A POOL?! Is this cool or weird?? #apartmentsearch#cincinnati#apartment#weirdapartment♬ original sound – Lyd

    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

    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT

    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 intoa former laundromatin 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.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “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

    ADVERTISEMENT

    The unique apartment is listed from $1635 to $2775 on the City Center Properties website

    Image credits: CityCenterProperties

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Furthermore, Jazz, a 25-year-old single mom from the UK who is facing soaring rent costs, transformed adouble-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

    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Poll Question

    Total votes ·

    Thanks! Check out the results:

    Total votes ·
    Share on Facebook
    Marina Urman

    Marina Urman

    Writer, Entertainment News Writer

    Read more »

    With a degree in social science and a love for culture, I approach entertainment journalism at Bored Panda with a research-driven mindset. I write about celebrity news, Hollywood highlights, and viral stories that spark curiosity worldwide. My work has reached millions of readers and is recognized for balancing accuracy with an engaging voice. I believe that pop culture isn’t just entertainment, it reflects the social conversations shaping our time.

    Read less »
    Marina Urman

    Marina Urman

    Writer, Entertainment News Writer

    With a degree in social science and a love for culture, I approach entertainment journalism at Bored Panda with a research-driven mindset. I write about celebrity news, Hollywood highlights, and viral stories that spark curiosity worldwide. My work has reached millions of readers and is recognized for balancing accuracy with an engaging voice. I believe that pop culture isn’t just entertainment, it reflects the social conversations shaping our time.

    What do you think ?
    TheBlinkingDuck
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I love it. It beats tearing it down a historic building to put up a cardboard apartment building

    weatherwitch
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    OK. I like it and I don't like it. I Love quirky but think I'd have done it differently whilst still keeping most of those original features. It's basically a HUGE open plan layout property. However the heating bills have to be astronomical given the height of the Huge ceiling 😮

    Load More Comments
    TheBlinkingDuck
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I love it. It beats tearing it down a historic building to put up a cardboard apartment building

    weatherwitch
    Community Member
    1 year ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    OK. I like it and I don't like it. I Love quirky but think I'd have done it differently whilst still keeping most of those original features. It's basically a HUGE open plan layout property. However the heating bills have to be astronomical given the height of the Huge ceiling 😮

    Load More Comments
    You May Like
    Related on Bored Panda
    Popular on Bored Panda
    Trending on Bored Panda
    Also on Bored Panda
    ADVERTISEMENT