Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Hotel Laureum
Northwestern Mutual turns a shuttered 1926 private club into a 35-room lakeside hotel.
Announced · Spring 2027
Northwestern Mutual is converting Milwaukee's shuttered 1926 University Club into Hotel Laureum, a 35-room boutique luxury hotel opening in spring 2027 under Charlestowne Hotels management. The John Russell Pope-designed Georgian Revival building sits blocks from Lake Michigan and will reopen with restaurants on its first and sixth floors.
The essentials
- Group
- Independent (managed by Charlestowne Hotels)
- Opening
- Spring 2027
- Rooms & suites
- 35 rooms and suites
- Segment
- Luxury
- Designer
- John Russell Pope (original 1926 architecture); Kahler Slater (architect of record, renovation)
- Entry rate
- NC
The place
The hotel occupies the six-story former University Club at 924 E. Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee, a Georgian Revival landmark designed by John Russell Pope, a short walk from Lake Michigan.
The concept
Northwestern Mutual bought the building for $4.25 million in 2024 after the University Club (a private members' club dating to 1928 that had merged with Tripoli Country Club in 2016) closed abruptly in December 2023. The insurer is converting it into Hotel Laureum, a 35-room boutique luxury property, timed to open ahead of Northwestern Mutual's 147th annual meeting; the name derives from the Latin laureus, for laurel, a symbol of victory.
Dining & wellness
Full-service restaurants planned for the first and sixth floors, with event spaces on the first and second floors; specific dining concepts have not yet been announced.
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