Ever swim in a castle? Probably not if you live in the USA, which has 10.7 million pools but only two “castles” with fully operational indoor swimming facilities. Channeling my inner C3PO, your odds of swimming in an American castle are approximately 5.35 million to one. 

To quote Han Solo: Never tell me the odds. 

In August, I beat them. Although the reason for our California trip, my husband’s conference, took place at the San Francisco Marriott, I reserved a room across the Bay Bridge at the Berkeley City Club, also known as Julia Morgan’s “Little Castle.” Why choose a commute over convenience? Within this 95-year-old Gothic-Moorish boutique hotel lies a most elegant lap pool, where tranquility reigns. Under a series of arches, five lanes stretch 25 yards, marked not by ubiquitous black tile lines, but by cheery yellow arrows adorned with blue fishes, bubbles, and waves. Along the far side, light from a garden streams through cloistered arches where carvings of seahorses and shells grace the columns. 

In this entrancing environment I began each morning, slipping into the serene water for my daily 3000 yards. The temperature felt so perfect that it didn’t even register. 

After each swim, I showered in the locker room and meandered through the halls and up the grand staircase to the breakfast room. In my post-swim, gloriously chlorinated state, I felt like aquatic royalty as I sipped my coffee, dined on a delicious egg souffle, and savored my beautiful surroundings: the vaulted ceilings, diamond-paned leaded glass windows, and large inviting fireplaces surrounded by intricately carved mantels. 

Considering the “Little Castle” as its own tiny kingdom, architect Julia Morgan (1872-1957) used her signature steel-reinforced concrete and then added details. Why adapt a classically-inspired design with such modern and seemingly mundane materials? Why not just use wood, like most of the city’s early buildings? In the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fire that killed more than 3000 people, left more than 200,000 homeless, and annihilated 500 city blocks, San Francisco had learned a tragic lesson in city planning and building materials in an area prone to significant seismic activity. Two of Morgan’s buildings had survived that devastation – as a newly-licensed architect, she’d built both with that reinforced concrete. As a result, her career took off, with many requests for her expertise and ingenuity, one from the Fairmont Hotel, which she rebuilt in spectacular fashion in only a year. 

FIN FACT:
In 1929, a luxurious indoor pool was added to the Fairmont Hotel, and in 1945, that pool was converted to the Tonga Room, now California’s oldest tiki bar and restaurant. With a blue lagoon, thunderstorm effects, live music, and unique cocktails and dishes, it is no surprise that celebrity chef, best-selling author, and culinary explorer Anthony Bourdain described it as “the greatest place in the history of the world.” If you have the opportunity, go check it out! We loved it.

Clearly, in her Berkeley City Club design, Morgan had considered details as well as the big picture. But the BCC opened in 1930 as a women’s club (and started admitting men in 1963), long before girls were encouraged to embrace STEM studies. Who was this tiny trailblazer? At only 5 feet tall, in her brilliance, inspiration, and determination, Julia Morgan embodied Yoda’s words “size matters not.” As a young woman, she rejected societal expectations for young women to step away from school, find a suitable husband, have children, and stay at home. Instead, in 1894, she became the first female to graduate from UC Berkeley with a degree in civil engineering. She then became the first woman to attend and earn a certificate in Architecture from the esteemed Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris. In 1904, Morgan became the first female licensed architect in California. 

Her remarkable achievements continued through her 43-year career, when she led her own design firm in San Francisco, planning and creating more than 700 buildings. Along with the BCC, her numerous other notable contributions include the UC Berkeley gymnasium and pools and the other American castle I mentioned: The Hearst Castle. 

FIN FACT: 
In 1919, William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), American media tycoon and San Francisco native, commissioned the indefatigable Julia Morgan to build his family home on his 40,000-acre estate in San Simeon, California. Building a comfortable dwelling for a millionaire grew into a much more complicated project due to Hearst’s penchant for collecting architectural objects from all over the world, and the Hearst Castle was finally completed in 1947. It includes two spectacular swimming pools: the indoor Roman Pool, resplendent in iridescent tiles, and the enormous and elegant outdoor Neptune Pool! During occasional fundraising events, 50 lucky swimmers can take the plunge at the Hearst Castle. All they must do is pay a $500 yearly membership fee and buy a ticket for a grand or more! Sadly, such a price is well over my head.

Fortunately for me, the 55-meter pool at the Bellagio in Las Vegas was inspired (loosely) by the Hearst Castle Neptune Pool. Unless I win at the casinos, my 2018 swim there is likely the closest I’ll get to swimming at the actual Hearst Castle.

But in the placid waters within Julia Morgan’s Berkeley City Club, I can float and dream. 

FIN FACT:
Historic pools like the Berkeley City Club need cash for restoration and repairs! You can help the BCC preservation effort by contributing to the Berkeley City Club Conservancy, which currently is raising money to restore the pool windows! Click here for more information: https://berkeleycityclubconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/newsletter-2025-summer.pdf

POOL STATS:
Year opened: 1930
Architect: Julia Morgan
Length: 25 yards
Depth: 3ft-7ft
Filtration: Chlorine
Lanes: 5 (The yellow lines divide the lanes. Two are for reservations. Call the BCC to reserve. One lane has stairs at the end.)
Children: Permitted during Family Swims (Saturdays from 2-4 p.m., Sundays from 12-2 p.m.)
Caps: Required. You can buy a special Berkeley City Club cap at the front desk for only $6. Mine is a great souvenir!

Location: 
Berkeley City Club 
A Julia Morgan Historic Hotel 
2315 Durant Avenue 
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 848-7800
reservations@berkeleycityclub.com
https://www.berkeleycityclub.com/

References:

Berkeley City Club Conservancy . (2019, June 4). Projects. Berkeley City Club Conservancy. https://berkeleycityclubconservancy.org/lhf-projects/

Berkeley City Club: A Julia Morgan Historic Hotel . Berkeley City Club. (n.d.). https://www.berkeleycityclub.com/

Brundage, P. W. (2016, September 30). Pool Crush(es): Julia Morgan’s berkeley beauties. 1001pools. https://www.1001pools.com/single-post/2016/09/29/pool-crushes-julia-morgans-berkeley-beauties

California State Parks. (2023, September 19). The swimming pools – hearst castle. Hearst Castle – A Museum Like No Other. https://hearstcastle.org/history-behind-hearst-castle/the-castle/pools/

Graff, A. (n.d.). You can now take a dip in the Hearst Castle Swimming Pool, but it’s not cheap. https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Neptune-Pool-Hearst-Castle-swim-party-foundation-14014816.php

Hansen, K. (2019, July 1). You can finally swim in the Hearst Castle Pools. Architectural Digest. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/swim-hearst-castle-pools

McCarthy, C. (2023, September 18). Public swimming pools, by the numbers. https://www.marketplace.org/story/2023/09/18/public-swimming-pools-by-the-numbers

Morgan, J. (1929). Berkeley city club building rendering [Pencil drawing of Berkeley City Club]. 

Neptune Pool Hearst Castle. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2025, from https://free-images.com/display/neptune_pool_hearst_castle_6.html. Public domain.

Nichols, V. (2025, May 28). Hollywood at Hearst: Neptune Pool Swim: Saturday, September 6, 2025: Foundation at Hearst Castle. https://foundationathearstcastle.com/event/neptune-pool-swim-saturday-september-6-2025?event_date=2025-09-06

Roman Pool Hearst Castle. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2025, from https://free-images.com/display/roman_pool_hearst_castle.html. Public domain.

Thompson, D. (n.d.). Berkeley City Club. Berkeley Landmarks :: Berkeley City Club, part 1. https://berkeleyheritage.com/berkeley_landmarks/city_club1.html#:~:text=The%20pool%20dimensions%20are%2025,colorful%20tile%20dado%20on%20wall

Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar. Fairmont San Francisco. (2025, October 3). https://www.fairmont-san-francisco.com/dine/tonga-room-hurricane-bar/

Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar. Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar | Fairmont San Francisco. (n.d.). https://www.fairmont.com/en/hotels/san-francisco/fairmont-san-francisco/dining/tonga-room-hurricane-bar.restaurant.html