Calhoun Beach Club
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Calhoun Beach Club
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The Calhoun Beach Club viewed from the south
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| Location | 2730 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota |
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| Coordinates | 44°56′59″N 93°18′54″W / 44.94972°N 93.31500°WCoordinates: 44°56′59″N 93°18′54″W / 44.94972°N 93.31500°W |
| Area | 2.128 acres (0.861 ha) |
| Built | 1928–9, 1946 |
| Architect | Nicol, Charles Wheeler; Magney & Tusler |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 03001335 |
| Added to NRHP | December 23, 2003 |
The Calhoun Beach Club is an apartment community, health club, and commercial center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, just across Lake Street from its namesake Lake Calhoun. Its founders intended the club to meet their residential, recreational, and entertainment needs in one building. The original building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 23, 2003. It is considered significant as a rare local example of an apartment hotel, a distinctive urban housing option of American cities in the 1920s.
Construction of the building began in 1928, but it was delayed for approximately 18 years due to the Great Depression. After World War II construction was completed, and it became a lively social club. Financial hard times in the early 1950s forced the club into bankruptcy. The building was converted to a hotel in 1954 and was marketed as a place for social events such as proms, parties, luncheons, banquets, and wedding receptions. The upper floors were converted into fashionable apartments. WTCN (now KARE television and WWTC radio) moved its radio and TV studios to the second and third floors around that time. Staples of WTCN programming, such as the children's program Lunch with Casey and All Star Wrestling with Verne Gagne, aired live in the building. From 1963 to 1972, the property was renamed Calhoun Beach Manor, operating as a home for the elderly.
In 1977 the building was restored to its intended use as a sports and social club. The handball and squash courts and the swimming pool were restored, and the club installed tennis courts, steam rooms, saunas, sunrooms, and a jogging track. At that time, the lobby was restored in an Art Deco style. Later, in the 1980s, the club added more facilities, such as an aerobics studio, volleyball and basketball courts, and additional exercise equipment.
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