Through the efforts of William Greer Harrison, the Olympic Club became a land owner. To acquire most of land that Post Street now occupies and build a beautiful athletic facility on that property propelled the club into a new era of rooted permanence and conveyed a status of dignity unequaled in a west coast athletic club.
Harrison was elected president in 1886 and two years later, on March 27, a General Meeting of the Membership approved the purchase of a site and a building committee was appointed. Of the $225,000 authorized for the project a mere $65,000 represented the cost of the property.
A now familiar obstacle soon threatened the project when contractors announced that the building could not be built, according to the proposed plans, within the remaining budget. Progress was further stalled by the resignation of President Harrison, in November 1889 after a heated controversy over the proposal that junior athletes between the age of 18 and 21 be permitted use of the gymnasium. 700 Members signed a petition to have Harrison re-instated and progress was resumed on the building project.
The plan for a running track on the roof was eliminated and other changes were made to reduce costs. And adding a junior-juvenile gymnasium in place a proposed Turkish bath solved the junior access issue.
Ground was broken on April 4, 1891 and the opening ceremony was held on January 2, 1893. One of the most outstanding features of the new building was the salt-water plunge (swimming pool). The water for this pool was delivered from the ocean through a Club owned pipe system an to this day the Club owns a piece of property midway along that pipe line where booster pumps were located. The system was able to deliver as much as 200,000 gallons of water per day. The Olympic Ocean Water Company was established by Harrison to sell salt water to the Women’s Athletic Club on Sutter and the Press Club across Post Street thereby recovering pumping costs. The plunge proved tremendously popular and helped attract a great many new members whose initiation fees helped to pay for the new building.
