A Century of Enduring Excellence and Service

If these walls could talk, oh the stories they would tell.

With over a century of memories and stories in the making, the University Club of Santa Barbara is truly a local gem in the heart of downtown.

In 1914 a group of graduates and upper classmen from a local Santa Barbara college formed the first University Club in town. Sadly, it was disbanded when many of its members left for World War I. Upon cessation of the hostilities, however, a renewed need for a proper University Club arose. Following lengthy and diligent discussions, the current University Club of Santa Barbara was officially founded in 1919 - the same year as prohibition - at the Old Potter Hotel with Ralph Hersey as its first President. The fledgling Club was initially housed in the Alfred Edwards house at the corner of E. Micheltorena and Anacapa streets, where the Notre Dame School now stands. It soon became clear, however, that these quarters were too small. The Club sold the Alfred Edwards house to a mortician and bought the old Calkins Castle on Santa Barbara Street in its stead. In 1922 club member and prominent architect Winsor Soule was commissioned to remodel the old castle, including removal of two thirds of the original structure and construction of the clubhouse as it appears today.

An open house was held in early 1923, and the Club officially moved in that March. The Library wing was donated by the widow of club member Frederic Saltonstall Gould in 1937. In July 1953 the Club was further remodeled and refurbished, with a new bar and lounge added to the building, the former bar remodeled into a billiard room and ‘ladies’ lounge’, and toilets installed at the head of the main staircase. In the 1980s a new kitchen was installed, and 2014 saw the addition of the beautiful Sola Patio, on the Sola Street side of the building.

Throughout the years, the University Club of Santa Barbara has faithfully kept up with the changing times and the growth of the city, all the while preserving its fine history and traditions - not least of which include a century’s worth of camaraderie, community, and care for our members and their families.