Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/131459
CULTURE Two Beds, Two Baths, Two Lap Lanes In Clifton, a monument to a swimmer's dream. By Anne Marshall Photos by Ted Tarquinio 30 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 6.13 I n the next two hours, more than 25 people will stop at 1968 Payne St. Tey'll walk past a white balloon bouncing in the spring breeze, tugging at its ribbon limb tethered to a "For Sale" sign. Tey'll climb the 13 steps up to the front door. Ten, most will veer left away from the home and follow a trail of stepping stones to a cement block cube that the white shotgun house wears like a fanny pack. Over the last year, hundreds have popped into open houses for the "Natatorihome," a unique real estate equation: Take a 103-yearold, 1,100-square-foot, two-bedroom, onebath home and add on an 1,800-square-foot natatorium. Perplexed? Flier from the box out front, help me out: "Tis palace of aquatic pleasure is a life-renewing oasis amidst the stark urban landscape. Welcome to the NATATORIHOME." It's impressive: A 25-yard, two-lane indoor lap pool, narrow and long like a canal, outftted for competition with black and yellow fags on either end and a Kiefer timing clock familiar to anyone who's spent one day on a swim team. Tat's not all. A steam room, sauna, additional bathroom and chromotherapy whirlpool tub that throbs calming lavender light surround the pool. It sounds more Glenview than Clifton, but situated among the compact lots and steep lawns of Payne Street sits a facility that cost more than $300,000 to construct. In preparation for this April afternoon's open house, tiny black fies have been plucked from the pool's turquoise water. Windex had brightened a wall of windows. Pool jets gurgle gently. Pufy white terrycloth bathrobes hang from hooks, awaiting purpose. Fifteen minutes before the 2 p.m. showing begins, a man with thick forearms and a crew cut arrives with his middle-school-aged daughter, all blond ponytail and braces. "Are you here for the open house?" asks Jamie Peterworth, a Kentucky Select realtor who's had this listing for seven months.