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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