[1] The Seamen's Club was built in 1949 to serve as short-term housing for workers in the maritime and shipping industries.

Its construction was supported by both the Seafarers International Union and the Waterman Steamship Corporation.

The building is close to both the docks and to the downtown core, providing ease of access to both and a link between transient seamen and the city at large.

A separate location for Black seamen was opened a few blocks away, near the International Longshoreman's Association Hall.

The building was designed by Mobile architect John Platt Roberts, who also designed the Spanish Colonial Revival Paterson House (1926) and Azalea Court Apartments (1928), the Tudor Revival Ross Knox House (1929), and the International style Waterman–Smith Building (1945).