Metropolitan Club (Washington, D.C.)
 Metropolitan Club in 2008 | |
| 53-0109340 | |
| Headquarters | 1700 H St., NW |
| Location | |
| Website | www |
| Architect | Heins & LaFarge |
| NRHP reference No. | 95000441[1] |
The Metropolitan Club is a private club in Washington D.C., founded in 1863. It is considered one of the most prestigious and exclusive clubs in the nation, together with the Knickerbocker Club and The Brook in New York, and the Somerset Club in Boston. Its members are typically descendants of the First Families of Virginia and of the Colonial families of Maryland.
History[]
The club's website declares: "The Metropolitan Club is one of Washington's oldest and most valued private institutions. Since its founding in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, by six Treasury Department officials, it has pursued its primary goal of furthering "literary, mutual improvement, and social purposes." Today, nearly 150 years after its founding, the Club continues to attract distinguished members from around the world."[2] It also says: "The Metropolitan Club's proximity to the White House and other icons of the nation's capital has made it a destination for many local, national and international leaders, including nearly every U.S. president since Abraham Lincoln. Its location and dedication to a tradition of social civility provide members with a haven from the bustle of Washington's professional life, while offering amenities associated with contemporary urban living."[3]
Membership[]
Metropolitan Club membership was men-only until 1988, when the club's governing board voted to accept women members following a Supreme Court ruling upholding a law mandating women membership at private clubs with more than 400 members.[4][5] The club had a whites-only policy, which caused 30 members (including Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy) to quit in 1961. In 1972, the club started accepting black members, a controversial move among its membership at the time.[6]
Relationship with other clubs[]
The Metropolitan Club has reciprocal agreements with:
- Jockey Club (Paris)
- Knickerbocker Club (New York)
- Cercle Royal du Parc (Brussels)[7]
- Circolo della Caccia (Rome)
- Boodle's (London)
- Brooks's (London)
- (Vienna)
- (Madrid)
- Círculo de Armas (Buenos Aires)
- Somerset Club (Boston)
- (Tokyo)
- Australian Club (Sydney)
Selection of Notable Members[]
- John J. Pershing, General of the Armies 1860–1948
- Theodore Roosevelt, president, 1858–1919
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, president, 1882–1945
- Henry White, ambassador,[8] and one of the signers of the Treaty of Versailles.[9] 1850–1927
- Joseph C. Grew, ambassador, 1880–1965
- Henry Kissinger, secretary of state
- Robert McNamara, defense secretary, president of the World Bank (1916–2009)
- George Dewey, Admiral of the Navy, 1837–1917
- William Tecumseh Sherman, General of the Army 1820–1891
- Livingston T. Merchant, ambassador, 1903–1976
- William Howard Taft, president and chief justice, 1857–1930
- Ulysses S. Grant, president, General of the Army, 1822–1885
- J. P. Morgan, financier, 1837–1913
- John Hay, secretary of state, 1838–1905
- George C. Marshall, secretary of state, 1880–1959
- Count Arnaud de Borchgrave, journalist, 1926–2015
- Edward Fitzgerald Beale, ambassador, explorer, and surveyor 1822–1893
- John F. Kennedy, president, 1917–1963
- Salmon P. Chase, treasury secretary and chief justice, 1808–1873
- James L. Holloway III, admiral, 1922–2019
- Elihu Root, secretary of state, 1845–1937
- James W. Wadsworth, senator, 1877–1952
- John Sherman, senator (1823–1900)
- James V. Forrestal, defense secretary (1892–1949)
- Henry Morgenthau Jr., treasury secretary (1891–1967)
- John J. McCloy, chairman of the World Bank (1895–1989)
- John Sherman, senator (1823–1900)
- Kichisaburo Nomura, Japanese ambassador (1877–1964)
- Spencer M. Clark, superintendent of the National Currency Bureau (1811–1890)
- Lucius Eugene Chittenden, register of the Treasury (1824–1900)
- Edward Jordan, solicitor of the Treasury (1820–1899)
- James Lorimer Graham Jr., attorney (1797–1876)
- Viscomte Henri de Sibour, architect (1872–1938)
- George Peabody Wetmore, governor of Rhode Island (1846–1921)
- John E. Pillsbury, rear admiral (1846–1919)
- Philander Chase Knox, secretary of state (1853–1921)
- George Washington Riggs, banker (1813–1881)
- T. Coleman du Pont, senator (1863–1930)
- George Washington Vanderbilt II, art collector (1862–1914)
- John Lorimer Worden, rear admiral (1818–1897)
- David Dixon Porter, admiral (1813–1891)
- William Wilson Corcoran, banker and art collector (1798–1888)
- Nicholas Longworth III, speaker of the House (1839–1931)
- Arthur MacArthur Jr., general (1845–1912)
- John McAllister Schofield, secretary of war (1831–1906)
- William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, Confederate general and US congressman (1837–1891)
- John Lee Carroll, governor of Maryland (1830–1911)
- Jerome H. Kidder, surgeon and astronomer (1842–1889)
- William Crowninshield Endicott, secretary of war (1826–1900)
- Francis Beverly Biddle, attorney general and Nuremberg judge (1886–1968)
- Andrew Mellon, Treasury Secretary and Philanthropist, 1855-1937
- Francis G. Newlands, senator (1846–1917)
- Alfred Thayer Mahan, historian and naval theorist (1840–1914)
- George Bancroft, historian and statesman (1800–1891)
- Nelson Appleton Miles, general (1839–1925)
- Dean Acheson, Secretary of State, 1893-1971
- David K.E. Bruce, Diplomat, 1898-1977
- William T. Coleman, Transportation Secretary, 1920-2017
- Katharine Graham, Publisher, 1917-2001
- Hugh S. Gibson, Diplomat, 1883-1954
- Cary T. Grayson, Physician, 1878-1938
- Rupert Blue, Surgeon General, 1868-1948
- Montgomery Blair, Politician, Lawyer & Postmaster-General,1813-1883
Club House[]
The Metropolitan Club was established in 1863. Twenty years later, it moved into its own building designed by the architects W. Bruce Gray and Harvey L. Page. The building, 1700 H Street NW, was destroyed in a fire in 1904.[10]
The club's current home, designed by the architectural firm of Heins & LaFarge, was built from 1906 to 1908.[11] It has been 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.
References[]
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ "Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington - About The Club". metroclub.com. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
- ^ "Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington - Home". www.metroclub.com. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
- ^ Mccarthy, Aoife. "Clubbing with the elite". Politico. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
- ^ Prasso, Sheri (25 June 1988). "Private Club Votes To Accept Women". Associated Press.
- ^ Gamarekian, Barbara (1983-09-10). "ENDURING BASTION OF EXCLUSIVITY FOR 'GENTLEMEN'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
- ^ "Cercle Royal du Parc Reciprocities".
- ^ "Henry White". history.state.gov. United States Department of State History – Office of the Historian. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ^ "HENRY WHITE WEDS MRS. WM.D. SLOANE; Ex-Ambassador to France Is 70 and Daughter of Late Wm. H. Vanderbilt Is 68. RELATIVES ONLY AT NUPTIAL Ceremony in St. Bartholomew's Chapel Follows Issuing of License --Couple at Bride's City Home". The New York Times. 4 November 1920. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ^ Eve Lydia Barsoum (12 March 1995). Metropolitan Club Historic Landmark Application (PDF) (Report). National Park Service. p. 7. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
- ^ "District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites". DC Preservation. Archived from the original on 2011-07-01. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
External links[]
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- 1863 establishments in Washington, D.C.
- Buildings and structures completed in 1908
- Clubhouses in Washington, D.C.
- Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
- Gentlemen's clubs in the United States
- Clubs and societies in Washington, D.C.
- 1908 establishments in Washington, D.C.
- Upper class culture in the United States
- Washington, D.C. Registered Historic Place stubs