A luxurious hotel in downtown San Diego contains two huge rooms that are quite unusual. One used to be a basketball court, and another was an indoor swimming pool!
The Guild Hotel occupies the historic 1924 building that was originally home of the Army-Navy YMCA. For decades, tens of thousands of sailors and military men would head to this location on Broadway, not far from the waterfront, to recreate. They'd play basketball, run around an elevated indoor track, and swim in a basement pool.
The Guild Hotel, when it moved into the iconic building, creatively repurposed two large indoor spaces. The huge basketball court was converted into the grand Grace Ballroom! The swimming pool was turned into the Society Ballroom!
I was shown these spaces several weeks ago during the San Diego Architectural Foundation Open House event.
Just inside the front entrance of the luxurious The Guild Hotel in downtown San Diego.
The Guild Bar in the hotel lobby.
To the left of the bar, a door opens to the unusual Grace Ballroom.
The Grace Ballroom at The Guild Hotel was originally an indoor basketball court. Military men shot hoops here for decades when the building was an Armed Services YMCA.
An elevated platform intended for jogging or running continues to surround the hotel ballroom!
Beautiful tiles along a stairway that descends from The Guild Hotel lobby to a lower level.
An old photograph of the large swimming pool that once occupied the Army-Navy YMCA's basement.
The swimming pool is gone, replaced by the Society Ballroom! The historic space was set up as a meeting room when I toured the hotel.
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