Royal Pools by Adams designs and builds custom inground swimming pools throughout Old Palo Alto, the estate neighborhood between Embarcadero Road and Oregon Expressway. We are a Diamond Certified pool construction company based about 40 minutes down the Peninsula on Camden Avenue in San Jose, and we have been building Bay Area pools since 1969. Our five-step program takes your project from first sketch to first swim.
Old Palo Alto is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in America, and it earned that standing the old way: early-1900s through 1930s Craftsman and Colonial Revival estates on tree-canopied streets, anchored by landmarks like the 2.5-acre Gamble Garden on Waverley Street. Building a pool here is estate work, and we treat it that way. The neighborhood’s larger lots support full compositions: a formal rectangular pool, raised spa, and hardscape detailed to the home’s era rather than against it. Two local rules shape every design. First, Palo Alto’s tree ordinance protects native oaks from 11.5 inches in diameter and most other species from 15 inches, with removal requiring a permit, a certified arborist’s report, and neighbor notice, so we site the pool around tree protection zones and plan the dig to keep the canopy that makes these streets what they are. Second, the city regulates construction dewatering, since excavation on this flat valley floor can meet shallow groundwater; we coordinate the dewatering plan with Public Works inside the permit package. Homes on the city’s Historic Inventory get their review path confirmed before design ever hardens.
Every photo below is from a real Royal Pools by Adams project. See more in our project gallery.
Royal Pools by Adams is part of the Adams Pool Group, a family-run organization that has been building and finishing pools since 1953. Every 28 Palms project is backed by the same leadership team that oversees every Royal pool in the Bay Area.
Owner & CEO, Adams Pool Group
General Manager, Royal Pools by Adams
We design and build pools across Old Palo Alto and the neighborhoods around it:
The National Register district just north across Embarcadero, with 1890s Stanford-faculty homes and the area’s strictest review overlay.
Stately homes and wide, tree-canopied streets northeast of downtown.
The blocks around Rinconada Park and the city’s civic cluster.
The vintage 1920s pocket west across Alma, beside Palo Alto High School.
Our citywide Palo Alto page.
Yes. Pool projects run through the City of Palo Alto’s Planning and Development Services, submitted digitally through the Accela Citizen Access portal. We prepare the plan set, manage the review cycle, and handle inspections through final.
That is the defining design constraint in Old Palo Alto, and we plan for it from the first site visit. Palo Alto protects native oaks from 11.5 inches in diameter and most other species from 15 inches; removal requires a city permit, a certified arborist’s report, and notice to neighbors. Our default is to keep the trees: we site the pool and route the excavation around protected root zones.
Palo Alto regulates construction dewatering citywide because shallow groundwater is a known condition on the valley floor. A dewatering plan and Public Works permit, with a seasonal pumping window and neighbor notification, get folded into our permit package so the schedule stays honest.
Usually yes, with the right process. Individual homes on the city’s Historic Inventory trigger additional review, so we confirm your address’s status before design hardens and detail the pool, coping, and hardscape to the home’s era, whether that is Craftsman, Colonial Revival, or a modern rebuild.
This is one of the few Palo Alto neighborhoods where the answer is regularly yes. The lots here are among the largest in the city, which opens the full estate composition: formal pool, raised spa, outdoor kitchen and dining terrace, and lighting that flatters the architecture after dark.
City of Palo Alto Utilities, the city’s own municipal utility, with supply purchased from the San Francisco regional system, most of it Hetch Hetchy Sierra snowmelt. We test and balance the fill water on fill day.
Prefer to plan your project in person? Our San Jose showroom at 2258 Camden Ave is about 40 minutes from Old Palo Alto: take US-101 South to Highway 85 South and exit at Camden Avenue. Get directions from Old Palo Alto →
Part of Our Palo Alto Service Area
Start with a free design consultation at your home or in our San Jose showroom.
Royal Pools by Adams | 2258 Camden Ave, San Jose, CA 95124 | (408) 371-8000 | Mon-Fri 8am-4pm | CSLB #278052
