Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 01:52, 22 July 2024

The Metropolitan Club

The clubhouse's Fifth Avenue façade (2024)
Formation	1891; 134 years ago (1891)
Type	Private social club
Location	1 East 60th Street Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Website	metropolitanclubnyc.org
Remarks	Architect: McKim, Mead & White

The Metropolitan Club is a private social club on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was originally founded as a gentlemen's club in 1891. The current building at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street was designed by McKim, Mead & White and completed in 1893.

History

The Metropolitan Club was formed in 1891 by J. P. Morgan, who served as its first president. It was actually the second organization with that name in its neighborhood. The New York Times reported on March 10, 1891, about the name selected two days previous:

There is already a Metropolitan Club, which for some years has occupied quarters in the neighborhood in which the millionaires think of building.

Other original members of the club included William Kissam Vanderbilt and James A. Roosevelt. "Each member, which included Vanderbilts and Whitneys, contributed $5,000 to buy the plot of land."

In May 1945, the Club was able to avoid bankruptcy by selling $1,800,000 in bonds to its membership of 800 men.

Clubhouse

The architects of the original building (erected in 1893) were McKim, Mead & White. Seeking the finest workmanship rather than necessarily the lowest bidder in April 1892, the firm signed on David H. King, Jr., as the general contractor. The east wing, erected in 1912, was designed by Ogden Codman Jr.

Its 1894 clubhouse, designed by Stanford White, stands at 1 East 60th Street, on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue. The land on which the Clubhouse stands (with a frontage of 100 feet (30 m) on Fifth Avenue and 200 feet (61 m) on 60th Street) was acquired from the Duchess of Marlborough who signed the purchase agreement in the United States Consulate in London. Cornelius Vanderbilt II signed the purchase agreement on behalf of the club.

House rules

The Metropolitan Club maintains a dress code as part of its house rules:

• Men must wear jackets and ties – "turtlenecks and ascots are not acceptable."
• Ladies should wear "dresses, skirts, dressy pant suits, or business pant suits."
• "Jeans, shorts, stirrup pants, leggings, stretch pants, tight pants, sweats and T-shirts are absolutely not acceptable."

Cell phones and laptops are prohibited in the Club except in private meeting rooms and bedrooms.

Activities

The club has had an ongoing involvement in the social life of the upper class, including fundraising, black tie balls, and sports.

Notable members

Founding members

• J. P. Morgan (1837–1913), financier, banker, philanthropist, art collector, and the club's founder and first president
• John Lambert Cadwalader (1836–1914), lawyer
• Robert Goelet (1841–1899), real estate developer
• George G. Haven, Jr. (1866–1925), businessman
• James A. Roosevelt (1825–1898), merchant
• Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843–1899), industrialist, philanthropist
• William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849–1920), horse breeder
• Monte Waterbury (1876–1920), businessman, polo player
• William Collins Whitney (1841–1904), United States Secretary of the Navy, financier

Other notable members

• Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert (1861–1952), architect
• Charles H. Tenney (1842–1919), merchant and banker
• Edward Eugene Loomis (1864–1937), railroad executive
• Frederick Townsend Martin (1849–1914), writer and advocate for the poor
• George Goelet Kip (1845-1926), lawyer
• Guy Eastman Tripp (1865-1927), business executive and U.S. army general
• James L. Holloway III (1922–2019), United States Navy admiral and naval aviator
• James T. Woodward (1837–1910), banker
• Jerauld Wright (1898–1995), United States Navy admiral
• Larry Pressler (born 1942), Republican politician and the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to the United States Senate
• Levi Parsons Morton (1824–1920), minister to France, Republican vice president under Benjamin Harrison, governor of New York and second president of The Metropolitan Club
• Pippa Malmgren (born 1962), politics and policy expert
• Edwin B. Parker (1868–1929), lawyer and public official
• Ray Price (1930–2019), chief speechwriter of President Richard Nixon
• Robert Maclay (1834–1898), merchant, business executive, and civic activist
• Robert Winthrop (1833–1892), banker
• Spruille Braden (1894–1978), diplomat, businessman, member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and past president
• Walter Eli Clark (1869–1950), journalist and newspaper publisher
• Walter J. Cummings, Jr. (1916–1999), United States Solicitor General and federal judge
• William Astor Chanler (1867–1934), soldier, explorer, and United States Representative
• William Dawes Miller (c. 1918–1993), engineer and past president
• William L. Harkness (1858–1919), Standard Oil heir and philanthropist
• Woodbury Kane (1859–1905), yachtsman and member of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders

See also

• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets
• List of traditional gentlemen's clubs in the United States

References

Notes

1. The first organization to claim the name "Metropolitan Club" seemed to be described by The Times for over a decade, but the definite article "The" was not ordinarily capitalized.
2. Some sources claim 1894, but it is clear that much if not most of the work was done in 1893. One item even mentions 1892.

Citations

1. ^ "Inside 10 of New York City's most exclusive private clubs". Business Insider. October 26, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
2. ^ Gray, Christopher (October 28, 2010). "The Architect Charles McKim, Designer of the Morgan Library". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
3. "Very Hard On The Postmen.; It Would Seem That There Is One Metropolitan Club Too Many". The New York Times. March 10, 1891. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
4. "POLITICAL". The New York Times. October 4, 1858.
5. "Club in Fifth Ave Saved by Members" (PDF). New York Times. May 17, 1945. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
6. Selden-Sturgill, Ruth (September 11, 1979). Metropolitan Club Building (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. pp. 4–5. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
7. "The Metropolitan Club". Architect: McKim, Mead & White; Ogden Codman Jr. (east wing). Erected: 1893; 1912 (east wing)
8. ^ "House Rules". Retrieved February 22, 2021.
9. "Gives $15,780 for Opera; Metropolitan Club Adds Sum to Its $4,593 Individual Donations". The New York Times. May 3, 1940. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
10. "Metropolitan Club Annual Ball". The New York Times. December 28, 1978. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
11. "Backgammon Finals At Metropolitan Club". The New York Times. January 12, 1966. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
12. "Judge E. B. Parker, Debt Expert, Dies". The Evening Star. October 30, 1929. p. 1. Retrieved January 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.

Bibliography

• Porzelt, Paul (1982). The Metropolitan Club of New York. Rizzoli International Publications. ISBN 978-0-8478-0423-8.

External links

• Official website

40°45′53″N 73°58′20″W / 40.76472°N 73.97222°W / 40.76472; -73.97222

• 1891 establishments in New York (state)
• Clubs and societies in New York City
• Clubs and societies in the United States
• Fifth Avenue
• Gentlemen's clubs in New York City
• McKim, Mead & White buildings
• New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan
• Organizations established in 1891
• Upper East Side