Key and Seal Club after 1925

Finally, the clubs went through a period of consolidation before and after World War I, when Prospect Avenue assumed its current form. During this phase, such buildings as Charter, Tower, Quadrangle, and Dial Lodge were built. If stylistically consistent with existing clubs on the street, however, none of these later structures aspired to the same grandeur as the clubhouses of the early period.

In part, this deliberate scaling back in the size and opulence of club buildings reflects the rising costs of club construction and the more limited means of the newer clubs. But it also reflects an architectural response to the assault on the extravagance of the club system that was led by Woodrow Wilson. Although Wilson's "Quad Plan" was ultimately derailed by alumni opposition, it did much to influence the last phase of club development.

Dial Lodge, for example, was organized during the midst of the turmoil over the Quad Plan, and its members deliberately selected the name "lodge" to distance their new organization from the older, more elitist clubs. (The word "Lodge" also helped appease Wilson, who as President could have scuttled the club's charter.)