Martha Stewart is raising the concept of recycling to a whole new level by converting the basement foundation of a house that she tore down on her summer Maine property into a swimming pool.
Stewart posted last week on her personal Instagram account that the conversion project on Mount Desert Island “might actually be completed in the near future.”
The New York entrepreneur, who since the 1970s has expanded her catering business into a global lifestyle brand, bought a house next to her Skylands estate in Seal Harbor in 2015 for $3.2 million, according to Mount Desert municipal assessing records. She later had the 10-bedroom mansion, which was built in 1900 and called Ox Ledge, demolished after determining that it had deteriorated too much to be restored, according to the Mount Desert Islander.
Stewart left the basement foundation intact, however, and in 2023 decided to convert the remaining structure into a swimming pool overlooking Seal Harbor.
She wrote on Instagram that she got the idea for the pool when the house was removed and she saw what was underneath.
“The basement contained a massive and glorious pink granite rock — part of the landscape,” Stewart wrote. “I immediately thought the large basement with its unique perimeter shape and interior depth would make the perfect swimming pool.”
She said that in addition to a “very long pool” the finished project will include a hot tub, a pool house, a terrace and a lawn for badminton and volleyball. The finished pool will be about 100 feet long and 20 feet wide, the MDIslander reported.
Stewart, an avid swimmer, is known to post photos of herself and swimming pools on her social media accounts and in 2023, when she was 81, appeared as the cover model on Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue.
“Most fabulous of all are the expansive views of the numerous islands to the south, the ocean and the harbor,” Stewart wrote. “Keep up the great work everyone I want to swim soon !!!!!!!”
Stewart has owned Skylands, the 60-acre former estate of Edsel Ford, since 1997. Her current estimated net worth is estimated to be roughly half a billion dollars, according to published reports.
