ArchitectureCopenhagen & Paris & Helsinki & Macduff · Recently restored
Europe’s art deco pools, restored for another century
From Copenhagen to Aberdeenshire, a handful of public pools show how carefully restored bathing architecture can feel current again.
This is really a story about how public swimming pools became social architecture — and why a set of art deco baths across Europe feel newly relevant now. The Spaces looks at four examples nearing their hundredth birthdays, from Copenhagen and Paris to Helsinki and the Aberdeenshire coast, all brought back with varying degrees of care, community effort and historical detective work.
In Copenhagen, Frederiksberg Municipal Pool has had its 1934 mosaics and original colours restored after a renovation led by Cornelius Vöge. Paris appears twice: Molitor, rebuilt to Lucien Pollet’s plans after decades of decline, and Piscine Pontoise in the 5th arrondissement, where mosaics, friezes, cabin colours and hand-painted signage have been carefully reinstated. Helsinki’s Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall, completed in 1928 and restored in 2026, still keeps its two-level arrangement of pool, spa and saunas, with new photographic art at the entrance.
The Scottish entry is Tarlair Tidal Pool, just outside Macduff, where community fundraising helped save a 1930s seaside complex with a tea pavilion, now repaired with a new café and event space. The swimming and paddling pools themselves have been under restoration since 2025, with more facilities planned. It is a good piece for anyone who likes their design stories tied to places you can actually swim, visit or make a detour to see.
If you’re plotting a trip, it’s worth checking what has been restored, rebuilt or is still in progress: these pools are as much about continuity as they are about a dip.
Our summary of a story from The Spaces, published 6 October 2026. Read the original
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From The Spaces