Historic Richmond Pool Keeps on Swimming, 100 Years Later

The city of Richmond is throwing a pool party on Saturday to mark the 100th birthday of a beloved community gathering space.

The celebration for the Richmond Municipal Natatorium, more commonly known as the Richmond Plunge, marks a significant milestone because the centenarian indoor pool almost didn’t make it. The Plunge was shuttered for years and slated for demolition until a group of community volunteers organized to save it.

“You just don’t see 100-year-old pools,” said John Schonder, head coach of the Richmond Sailfish swim team, which practices at the pool. “ Almost every week, I meet someone who comes in and says, ‘Oh, I haven’t been here for 50 years,’ or, ‘I used to swim here in the ’70s when I was a kid.’” 

The Plunge opened in 1926, and it still harkens back to a time when indoor pools were a major public attraction. The city of Richmond compares the pool to Sutro Baths in San Francisco, another historic public swimming pool that’s now long gone. Just like Sutro Baths, which sourced its water from the ocean, the Plunge was once filled with saltwater from the bay.

The bright, airy space has over a hundred operable windows and a white, vaulted ceiling with exposed steel beams. Mosaic tiles adorn the entrances to the bathrooms. The Plunge also once had a bandshell, so spectators could watch synchronized swimming performances with live music from the second-story balcony, which exists today. 

The Plunge’s history inspired Berkeley architect Todd Jersey to help save it. 

“ When I first walked into this place, I was really taken with the sheer size of it, and the amount of light and air from these wonderful windows,” he said. The Plunge’s original design featured one single pool double the size of an Olympic-size swimming pool. Today, the pool is split into two separate areas, one for lap swimming and the other for recreation.

Over the years, the building fell into disrepair, including damage from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Repairs would have been expensive, and after voters rejected a bond measure in 1997 to reinforce the pool, the city decided to close it.

Still, people were allowed to swim in it, as the Plunge bore a “swim at your own risk” sign. Finally, the city shut down the site in 2001. 

In 2005, Jersey said he saw a documentary about the pool and thought he could help. Working with the nonprofit Richmond Friends of Recreation, he came up with a plan to reopen it for $1.3 million, far less than an approximately $12 million prior bid from another architect, he said.

It was the momentum the nonprofit needed to begin fundraising to renovate the Plunge. It finally reopened in 2010 after sitting unused for nine years with a total restoration cost of around $8 million, Jersey said. 

The work involved repairing wooden window frames, strengthening cracked walls and putting in the necessary infrastructure to run a pool. Because of its many windows, the Plunge doesn’t require the large ventilation systems typical of modern pools, reducing its energy bill, Jersey said. The roof also now has electrical solar panels.

“ Kind of a ridiculous amount of love and care went into this building,” Jersey said. 

On a recent Friday afternoon, 62-year-old Otis Mobley of Richmond sat on the pool deck and watched his 12-year-old granddaughter Naomi swim in the deep end for the first time after passing her swim test. 

“ We bring her here to refresh some memories and give her some for her future,” he said. 

Mobley said he came to the Plunge “almost every day during the summer,” when he was a child in the 1970s.

Lisa Klein, 73, makes the trip to the Plunge from Oakland a few times a month.

“ I love the beauty of the mural. I love the history of it, this big old building. And as soon as I get in the water and start swimming, whatever problems or things I’m working on dissolves, and I’m just here,” Klein said.

In addition to recreational and lap swimming, in its two pools, these days the Plunge hosts aqua Zumba and kayaking classes.

“ It’s used pretty much all day long and all year long,” Schonder said. 

Saturday’s celebration will feature a building dedication with speeches, offering two hours of family recreation swim for $1.