This key comes from sunny San Diego, as is clear from the tag. With a quick search of the National Register of Historic Places, I have gathered from the building's registration that the San Diego Athletic Club was a place of wealth and cultural development.
Athletic clubs were a prominent part of city life in the early twentieth century and were created to hep foster business connections and social lives. The San Diego Athletic Club was proposed by Colonel Ed Fletcher in 1924, and a group of local San Diego businessmen undertook the project. Constriction of the building was completed in 1928.
The San Diego Club (or San Diego Athletic Club) was designed in an Art Deco Ziggurat and Late Gothic Revival style. Meant to enhance the life and business of San Diegans, the Club was to be housed in an affluent building. The interior featured 96 sleeping rooms, two solariums, four hand-ball courts, a gymnasium, swimming pool, main lounge, main dining room, grill, ladies’ dining room and lounge, and a separate exclusive entrance for ladies (1). Standing 12 stories high, the San Diego Club was a social hub and clubhouse available to those who could afford membership.
The Club fell into financial hardship during the Great Depression but survived through the 1940's, Increasing debts into the '50s put immense finical stress on the club, and there were doubts that the San Diego Club would survive. While the Club managed to stay open into the '60s, it wasn't long for this world as changing times made Club membership less of a social necessity for upper class San Diegans . The building was sold in 1965 and, in 1968, the Club was converted into office spaces for the publishing firm Harcourt.
In 2010, the City of San Diego published plans to turn the building into a homeless shelter and resource center, including a medical clinic and social services center. In 2012, Turner Construction Company spent $24 million returning the building to its original state. Affirmed Housing now owns the building and uses it for interim housing for the homeless and to provide housing assistance, education, and employment services (2).
If I had to guess, I would say this particular key was created in the 1930's, after the Club was renamed the San Diego Club. This story goes to show that nothing is permanent, and even the most prestigious institutions are subject to the changing times. As the Baldpate Inn enters its 103rd consecutive year of operation, we are pressed to think about all those who have come and gone during this time.
Written by Maddie Anderson, KeyRoom Curator
