Celebrity Style

6 Over-the-Top Celebrity Swimming Pools

Dive into some of the most extravagant celebrity pools, from Liberace’s piano-shaped design to the Playboy Mansion’s famous grotto
Image may contain Jayne Mansfield Photography Face Head Person Portrait Plant Tree Vegetation and Potted Plant
Jayne Mansfield’s LA home featured a heart-shaped swimming pool outside and a heart-shaped tub inside.Photo: Bettmann / Contributor / Getty Images

Having a home swimming pool is considered a pretty luxurious amenity regardless of its style. But considering the deeper pockets A-listers typically have to craft at-home aquatic setups that really make some waves, it’s no surprise that celebs have fashioned themselves some jaw-dropping pools over the years. Whether they were designed with a cheeky shape in a nod to the homeowner’s signature aesthetic or simply sport a wildly lavish, resort-style vibe, we did a lap through the internet’s (and AD’s own) archives to see which big names boasted the craziest, coolest ones. And really what better way is there to ring in the dog days of summer than with a roundup of some of the most over-the-top celebrity swimming pools of all time? Take a refreshing dip through our eccentrically offbeat and high-drama favorites below.

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  • blackandwhite image of Liberace standing along side of his pianoshaped swimming pools with blackandwhite keys running...
    Photo: CBS via Getty Images
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    Liberace’s piano-shaped pool

    One look at the showman’s house would key the unfamiliar into what Liberace did for a living. The pianist and singer’s Sherman Oaks, California, home was full of melodic decor. Per LA Mag, these features included a fence lined with musical notes and a fountain that spouted out both water and tunes. (This aesthetic made its way indoors; Liberace also had a piano-inspired headboard in his bedroom.) But the pianistic pièce de résistance was the entertainer’s piano-shaped swimming pool, bordered with black-and-white keys along the deck.

  • Photo: Bettmann / Contributor / Getty Images
    2/6

    Jayne Mansfield’s cordate pool

    As a well-documented fan of the high-femme aesthetic, it certainly tracks that the actor demanded a 40-foot-wide heart-shaped pool while designing her Mediterranean-style LA love nest with husband Mickey Hargitay. (The two are Law and Order icon Mariska Hargitay’s parents.) Per a 1996 AD story, the whimsical pool was a precondition of her marriage to Mickey. According to the feature, the 1955 Mr. Universe winner was quite the handyman and carved out the structure himself, dedicating a message in mosaic along the bottom: “I love you Jaynie.” The style was reprised throughout the abode’s interiors, where Jayne’s pink shag-swathed bathroom came complete with a heart-shaped tub.

  • Photo: Alice S. Hall/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
    3/6

    The Playboy Mansion pool (and grotto)

    The storied 32-room Gothic Tudor Revival–style manse is a pop culture icon in and of itself, serving as the consummate party house of the early aughts for Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, his gang of “bunnies,” and anyone lucky enough to score an invitation to one of their famously exclusive soirees. As well-known as the interiors of the space became (particularly throughout the airing of The Girls Next Door reality show, which ran from 2005 to 2010), the heart of any Playboy Mansion extravaganza was always the pool and its rocky free-form grotto. Architects Ron and Suzanne Roe Dirsmith were given just four months to bring the aquatic wonderland to life, per their 2015 memoir Inside Hefner’s Pleasure Domes. His design brief for the duo was a tall order but with plenty of room for creative exploration: “I would like this place to be something that nobody else has and everybody can dream of having: a fantasy land, a dream land,” the tome quotes Hefner. “When it is finished it should look as though it has been here forever. And remember, whatever you show me is the minimum I expect at the end. You have no other restrictions!”

  • Photo: Bjorn Wallander
    4/6

    Alex Rodriguez’s ultrasleek setup

    The Coral Gables, Florida, home of former MLB star Alex Rodriguez puts on a masterclass in modern elegance. The sleek style of the main building recurs in the cabana and pool area, where an uncannily immaculate wet-edge pool appears almost like AI—but believe us, it’s real: AD toured the Choeff Levy Fischman–designed pad in 2017. The grounds, however, were fitted with artificial grass in order to conserve water. Rodriguez is no stranger to the high life and once owned a plot on Miami’s coveted Star Island, which he sold to hedge funder Ken Griffin last year for a whopping $45.5 million.

  • Photo: Dan Forer
    5/6

    Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky tribute

    While we concede that this still-very-opulent pool may be somewhat tame compared to the other items in this roundup, there are certainly those who would argue that a bronze Rocky Balboa statue presiding over the pool deck is indeed over-the-top. For the singer Adele, who purchased the home from Stallone in 2022 for $58 million, the prospect of the action star packing up the iconic character’s rendering upon move-out was a no-go. He had initially planned to keep the statue, “but [Adele] said, ‘That’s a no deal. That’s gonna blow the whole deal,’” Stallone told the Wall Street Journal in an interview last year.

  • Photo: Julia Beverly/Getty Images
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    Rick Ross’s massive Promise Land pool

    Anyone who knows Rozay is aware of his penchant for excess. The “Hustlin’” rapper’s real estate portfolio is no exception. Ross, who recently scored a Star Island property, boasts a colossal 350,000-gallon swimming pool on the grounds of his Fayetteville, Georgia, dwelling known as the Promise Land. (For reference, your typical residential pool will hold under 50,000 gallons of water.) The Maybach Music Group record executive purchased the estate for $5.8 million in 2014. Per a 2021 Forbes feature, Ross claims to have made over $2.5 million in location fees for allowing productions to shoot on the grounds. The manse played the role of Zamunda Palace in Eddie Murphy’s 2021 film Coming 2 America.

Charlotte Collins is a digital features editor at Architectural Digest reporting news and features at the intersection of pop culture and design. She was formerly an assistant editor at InStyle magazine and has also worked in broadcast for CBS This Morning and 48 Hours. Her news, design, and entertainment coverage... Read more
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