Former Wall Street exec Jay Dweck is playing a swan song for his New York mansion, which boasts one of the most striking pools we’ve seen.
The 50,000-gallon pool is 90 feet long and shaped like a giant, glittering Stradivarius violin.
The standout swimming pool took workers 15 months to complete, at an estimated cost of $1 million. It has 5,600 fiber-optic strands embedded in the floor, 450,000 glass tiles, two adjacent koi ponds, and a spa for its chin rest.
Dweck says he’s ready to pass the baton, or perhaps more appropriately, the violin’s bow, to a new owner. He recently listed the 10,500-square-foot mansion in Bedford Corners, NY, for $10 million.
This Colonial-style mansion was built in 2006 in Westchester County, an area popular with bankers and well-heeled folks commuting to Manhattan. It features six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and four half-baths and sits on a little over 5 acres.
Front exterior
realtor.com
The grand estate exudes understated elegance, belying the powerful hardware and software lurking within. Each room has custom woodwork and tall ceiling, lots of natural light, and either a french door leading to an outdoor space or a wide entryway to another room. The luxe interior amenities include an elevator, saltwater aquarium, gym, and home theater.
Kitchen
realtor.com
Family room
realtor.com
A pool with true harmony
But the home’s crescendo is found out back in the phenomenal pool. It’s modeled after a Stradivarius violin Dweck owns. The bow, which looks like it’s resting under the violin, is actually twin koi ponds, separated from the main pool by 6-foot-long acrylic windows. Dweck says the koi love to come up to the windows to check out people in the pool.
The pool’s shape isn’t the only thing that sets it apart from your standard swimming hole. Several thousand fiber-optic strands are embedded in the pool’s floor, and light up on command. At night, its shimmering glass tiles (which took four months to install), coupled with the fiber-optic strings, make the pool look like a giant, futuristic instrument floating in outer space.
“A lot of people say it’s breathtaking, that they can’t believe it,” Dweck said. “Some people want to know why I did it. They’ve seen the photos, but when they see it in person, they’re kind of very taken by it.”
Violin-shaped pool
realtor.com
Making a connection
The pool wasn’t his only pursuit. When Dweck bought the home in 2012 for $4.8 million, it was like many other multimillion-dollar mansions you’d find outside Manhattan. But he craved a different type of home, and undertook a multiyear project designed to turn it into one of the most technologically advanced homes in the country.
He said construction crews cut and patched 250 holes in the walls, to install the wiring for internet, dozens of sensors, and a cutting-edge home automation system. The hardware is in place to build out the connected home experiences of the future. For example, occupancy sensors and Wi-Fi sensors can pinpoint the location of every person in the house. If the occupants are carrying a Wi-Fi–connected smartphone or other device, the house can identify them and begin to personalize their experience.
Dweck says homes in the future will use a combination of sensors, voice-recognition software, and automated appliances to make life easier and more enjoyable.
According to Dweck, the house of the future might not have light switches, thermostats, security panels, door knobs, or keys. Instead, you’ll be able to walk in, set your things on the counter, and talk to the house to get it to help you out—with everything from “Run a hot bath in 10 minutes” to “What should I cook for dinner tonight?”
“The idea here is to really make the house improve your quality of life,” Dweck said. “Anything that doesn’t require volitional thought, the house should just do for you.”
