Tour a Cape Cod Pool Pavilion with Whimsical Shark-Inspired Details

The pergolas of this pint-sized Cape Cod pool pavilion, furnished by interior designer Carolyn Thayer, shade a dining area (pictured) and outdoor kitchen.

Like the main house, the pavilion is clad in red cedar that will weather to gray over time. The bottoms of the pergola brackets are held above the bluestone terrace, points out architect John DaSilva, so that the cedar doesn’t absorb standing water and become stained.

The outdoor kitchen, with its convenient pass-through to the pavilion’s interior, is equipped with a grill and double burner, sink, beverage and wine refrigerators, and an ice maker.

A piece of driftwood found on a nearby beach serves as the granite fireplace’s mantel.

On the other side of the fireplace wall is a powder room and storage for cushions and pillows.

The pavilion’s fireplace is purposefully oversized and aligns with windows in the home’s new family room so it can be enjoyed from the home’s interior (and from the pool).

DaSilva says he “tweaked” the tail of the pergola’s rafters to depict hungry sharks. A grid of festoon lights is recessed within the rafters, lending the seating areas a party-like vibe.

No one would accuse this Cape Cod pool pavilion of being ordinary, even at first glance, but like the Magic Eye pictures of the 1990s, the more you look—or if you tilt your head juuuust so—the more details you begin to see. For instance, did you notice the sharks?

“The homeowners wanted a fun, lighthearted place for entertaining— something that was consistent with the character of the existing house,” says design principal John DaSilva, referring to the couple who purchased a home his firm, Polhemus Savery DaSilva, designed nearly a decade ago. “They liked the idea of using whimsical details. If you look at the ends of the rafters and brackets that comprise the cantilevered pergolas, you’ll see shark faces.”

Those parallel pergolas, whimsical elements in their own right, serve a purpose: they shade the pavilion’s alfresco dining area and kitchen. Inside, the red-cedar-clad structure houses a vaulted-ceilinged sitting area and a granite fireplace that is visible from the home’s new family room addition, also designed by PSD. (That room’s ceiling trusses also feature, you guessed it, shark faces.)

The entire structure, which DaSilva and PSD senior landscape architect Rob Calderaro both refer to as a “jewel box,” sits in front of a newly built pool with an integrated spa. A bluestone terrace anchors it all. “We wanted to make sure that the pavilion and outdoor spaces flowed seamlessly,” says Calderaro, “and utilizing a consistent paving material, bluestone, inside and outside the pavilion was a big part of making that work.”

When PSD designed and built the original home, those owners elected to use a side yard for outdoor living, leaving the fallow backyard with its fifteen-foot slope untouched. The new owners, however, craved privacy that the side yard couldn’t offer, which meant bringing in a lot of backfill to level out the land so it could accomodate the pool and pavilion.

Calderaro says the backyard wound up exceeding his expectations, and DaSilva describes the process as rewarding. “It feels good when a new owner understands what makes a house we created special,” he reflects. “It feels even better when they trust us to be good stewards and extend that character.”

Project Team
Architecture, builder, and landscape design: Polhemus Savery DaSilva
Interior design: Carolyn Thayer Interiors