The Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington is a private club in Washington, D.C. In September 1983, The New York Times called it "Washington's oldest and most exclusive club".[2]
The Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington | |
 Metropolitan Club in 2022 | |
| Formation | October 13, 1863 |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| 53-0109340 | |
| Headquarters | 1700 H Street NW, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Location |
|
| Website | www |
| Architect | Heins & LaFarge |
| NRHP reference No. | 95000441[1] |
History
edit19th century
editOn October 1, 1863, six U.S. Treasury Department officials met to discuss the creation of a social and literary club in Washington, D.C.[3] The Metropolitan Club officially organized twelve days later, with 43 members.[3] The first year, dues were $50.[2]
On June 25, 1883, the club acquired a lot on the corner of H Street and 17th Streets for $10.[3] Later In 1883, the club moved into the first purpose-built structure for a club in Washington, D.C.[3] Designed by the architects W. Bruce Gray and Harvey L. Page, the Victorian-style, four-story building was destroyed in a fire in 1904.[3] From 1905 to 1908, the Metropolitan Club met in various rental properties.[3]
The club's current home, designed by the architectural firm of Heins & LaFarge of New York City, was built from 1904 to 1908.[4][3]
The brick and limestone Renaissance revival-style building was rebuilt on the 1700 H Street NW lot, two blocks from the White House.[2][3] In 1925, a two-story annex designed by Frederick H. Brooke of Donn and Deming was added.[3]
Inside the five-story building, there is a lobby, coat room, card room, a library with 15,000 books, a grill room, a lounge, a dining room, sleeping quarters, and a barbershop.[3][2] There is also a steam room, an exercise room, and two squash courts.[2] Another room serves as a museum, honoring the governors.[3] Other spaces are for offices, the kitchen, and the wine cellar.[3]
In 1898, Theodore Roosevelt plotted much of the Spanish–American War at the club.[2]
20th century
editDuring the Watergate scandal, Henry Kissinger regularly met New York Times journalist James Reston at the club.[5] To ensure confidentiality of such meetings, the club prohibits the use of cell phones or note taking at the tables.[5]
The Metropolitan Club building was listed on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites since 1964 and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.[3][4]
21st century
editIn April 2021, the club opened a new open-air rooftop venue, an $11 million project.[6] The space is used for live music, private functions, and smoking cigars.[6]
Membership
editFor the first century of its existence, the members of the club refused to accept non-white people as members.[2] Thirty club members quit in protest in 1961, including Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.[2] The club started accepting black members in 1972; the first black member it admitted was Bishop John T. Walker.[2] The club also did not allow women to join until 1988.[7]
In 1983, there was a five-year waiting list for membership.[3]
Notable members
edit- Dean Acheson, 51st U.S. Secretary of State[2]
- Robert J. Atkinson, politician[3]
- George Bancroft, historian and 17th U.S. Secretary of the Navy
- Edward Fitzgerald Beale, ambassador, explorer, and surveyor
- Francis Biddle, attorney general and Nuremberg trials judge
- Montgomery Blair, politician, lawyer, and U.S. Postmaster General
- Rupert Blue, fourth U.S. Surgeon General
- Phillip Bonsal, U.S. ambassador to Cuba[2]
- Stephen Bonsal, journalist and diplomat[2]
- Arnaud de Borchgrave, journalist
- David K.E. Bruce, diplomat
- Edward Burling, attorney[2]
- John Lee Carroll, governor of Maryland
- Salmon P. Chase, treasury secretary and chief justice
- Lucius Eugene Chittenden, register of the treasury[3]
- Spencer M. Clark, superintendent of the National Currency Bureau[3]
- William T. Coleman, transportation secretary
- William Wilson Corcoran, banker and art collector
- Viscomte Henri de Sibour, architect
- George Dewey, admiral of the Navy[2]
- T. Coleman du Pont, U.S. Senator
- Allen Dulles, CIA director
- William Crowninshield Endicott, Secretary of War
- Rowland Evans, journalist[2]
- James V. Forrestal, defense secretary
- B. B. French, politician[3]
- Hugh S. Gibson, diplomat
- George H. Goodrich, judge[8]
- James Lorimer Graham Jr., attorney
- Katharine Graham, publisher
- Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States and Union Army general[2]
- Cary T. Grayson, physician
- Joseph C. Grew, ambassador
- Warren G. Harding, president[2]
- John Hay, secretary of state[2]
- James L. Holloway III, admiral
- Herbert Hoover, president[2]
- Hallett Johnson, ambassador
- Reverdy Johnson, politician[3]
- William Hemphill Jones, politician[3]
- Edward Jordan, solicitor of the treasury
- John F. Kennedy, president
- Jerome H. Kidder, surgeon and astronomer
- Henry Kissinger, diplomat and statesman[2]
- Philander Chase Knox, secretary of state
- Ward H. Lamon, marshal of Washington[3]
- William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, congressman
- Joseph J. Lewis, IRS commissioner[3]
- Robert Todd Lincoln, ambassador and secretary of war[2]
- Walter Lippman, journalist[2]
- Henry Cabot Lodge, statesman[2]
- Nicholas Longworth III, speaker of the House
- Henry Loomis (broadcasting executive), director of Voice of America and president of the Corp. for Public Broadcasting
- Arthur MacArthur Jr., general
- Alfred Thayer Mahan, historian and naval theorist
- George C. Marshall, secretary of state
- John J. McCloy, chairman of the World Bank
- Robert McNamara, defense secretary, president of the World Bank
- Andrew Mellon, Treasury Secretary and philanthropist
- Paul Mellon, horse breeder and philanthropist[2]
- Livingston T. Merchant, ambassador
- Nelson Appleton Miles, general
- J. P. Morgan, financier
- Henry Morgenthau Jr., treasury secretary[2]
- Francis G. Newlands, senator
- Kichisaburo Nomura, Japanese ambassador
- Edwin B. Parker (1868–1929), head, priorities division, War Industries Board[9]
- John J. Pershing, General of the Armies
- John E. Pillsbury, rear admiral
- David Dixon Porter, admiral
- James "Scotty" Reston, journalist[2]
- George Washington Riggs, banker
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, president[2]
- Theodore Roosevelt, president[2]
- Elihu Root, secretary of state[2]
- John McAllister Schofield, secretary of war
- Alexander Shepherd, governor of Washington, D.C.[3]
- John Sherman, senator
- William Tecumseh Sherman, general
- John G. Stephenson, librarian of Congress[3]
- William Howard Taft, president and chief justice[2]
- Richard Wallach, mayor of Washington, D.C.[3]
- John T. Walker, bishop
- James M. Wayne, supreme court justice[3]
- George Washington Vanderbilt II, art collector
- James W. Wadsworth, senator
- William B. Webb, politician, chief of police in Washington D.C.[3]
- George Peabody Wetmore, governor of Rhode Island
- Charles Brewster Wheeler, U.S. Army brigadier general[10]
- Henry White, ambassador, and one of the signers of the Treaty of Versailles[11]
- John Lorimer Worden, rear admiral
References
edit- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad Gamarekian, Barbara (1983-09-10). "Enduring Bastion of Exclusivity for 'Gentlemen'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Eve Lydia Barsoum (12 March 1995). Metropolitan Club Historic Landmark Application (PDF) (Report). National Park Service. p. 7. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
- ^ a b "District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites". DC Preservation. Archived from the original on 2011-07-01. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
- ^ a b Mccarthy, Aoife (2007-12-04). "Clubbing with the elite". Politico. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
- ^ a b Barks, Joe (2021-12-03). "The Road Ahead: Up on the Roof at The Metropolitan Club of The City of Washington". Club + Resort Business. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
- ^ Pressley, Sue Anne (26 June 1988). "Metropolitan Club Ends Ban on Women Members". Washington Post. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ "George H. Goodrich Obituary". Legacy.com. The Washington Post. September 25, 2015. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
- ^ "Judge E. B. Parker, Debt Expert, Dies". The Evening Star. 1929-10-30. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-01-13 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Marquis, Albert Nelson (1919). Who's Who In America. Vol. X. Chicago, IL: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 2905 – via HathiTrust.
- ^ "Henry White Weds Mrs. Wm. D. Sloane; Ex-Ambassador to France Is 70 and Daughter of Late Wm. H. Vanderbilt Is 68". The New York Times. 4 November 1920. p. 13. Retrieved 21 July 2017.