Folly Point Pool House Becket MA, Massachusetts luxury residence photos, Modern American home design

Folly Point Pool House in Becket, MA

April 21, 2025

Architects: Butz + Klug Architecture

Location: Becket, Massachusetts, USA

photo © Butz + Klug Architecture

Photos by Millicent Harvey, Butz + Klug Architecture

Folly Point Pool House, Becket, Massachusetts, USA

Folly Point Pool House is situated at the tip of Folly Point in Gloucester, MA, and overlooking an abandoned quarry, this lot, although small, enjoys a 180-degree view of the ocean, with the quarry in the foreground, the Atlantic in the middle, and the coasts of New Hampshire and Maine in the distant background. The sun rises to the east over the ocean and sets to the west over New Hampshire.

photo © Millicent Harvey

Instead of competing with the uniqueness and drama of this remarkable display of the Northeastern coast with a building at the center, the site plan amplifies the potential of the long, beautiful views by using the buildings (and pool) as a frame.

photos © Millicent Harvey

The pool, sitting within the 100′ buffer of the high water mark, is the first chemical-free living pool started in the U.S. It is based on the biology of Alpine (oligotrophic or low nutrient) lakes usually found above the tree line.

photos © Millicent Harvey

The low phosphate level of these lakes creates clear potable water without chemicals. We embraced these natural processes as a point of departure for creating a pool with an affinity for the natural beauty of the site.

photos © Butz + Klug Architecture

The pool house, whose undulating roof recalls both water and earth, opens to the East, embracing the sunrise and to the North, facing the ‘Great Lawn’. The extensive green roof of the pool house is planted with native grasses and prevents any runoff that might approach the ocean.

photo © Butz + Klug Architecture

The plan of the pool house shares a large rectangular footprint with the pool, making them formally inseparable and spatially overlapping so that the interior of the pool house sits ‘in’ the pool.