Metropolitan Club (San Francisco)

Last updated
Metropolitan Club
NicknameThe Met
Formation1915
Type Women's club
Location
Coordinates 37°47′20″N122°24′40″W / 37.78889°N 122.41111°W / 37.78889; -122.41111
Region served
San Francisco Bay Area
Membership (2023)
850
Revenue (2023)
US $3.9 million
Staff (2023)
48
Website www.metropolitanclubsf.org
Formerly called
Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco
Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco
Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco 2012-09-22 14-27-40.jpg
A brass historical marker
Area Union Square
Built1917, 1923
Built byC.T. Ryland
Architect Walter Danforth Bliss & William Baker Faville
Architectural style Italian Renaissance Revival
NRHP reference No. 04000955 [1]
Added to NRHPSeptember 10, 2004
[2]

The Metropolitan Club is a women's club in San Francisco, California. Their clubhouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco. [1]

Contents

History

In 1915, a group of local women established the Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco to promote physical fitness and camaraderie among women and modeled it after the Woman's Athletic Club of Chicago. [1] It was the first women's athletic club west of the Mississippi. [3]

The clubhouse was built in phases in 1917 and 1923. [4] The site was selected in the Union Square neighborhood three blocks south of the Pacific-Union gentlemen's club.

In 1938, the club opened the Kakemono Lounge, a cocktail lounge decorated with Japanese influences. In 1941 during World War II, the club extended dining privileges to women working in the Red Cross Motor Corps. In 1945, the club hosted wives of delegates during the establishment of the United Nations. In 1953, the club converted the lounge into a library. [4]

In 1966, the membership voted to change their name to the "Metropolitan Club" to reflect their broader mission beyond just athletics. [4] In the 1980s, the club discussed but ultimately declined merging with the nearby Olympic Club, a then all-male athletic organization. [5]

In 2004, while other women's club had declining membership in San Francisco, the Metropolitan was the largest partly through offering members incentives to recruit. [6] The club is a popular rental venue for wedding receptions and other events.

Architecture

Detail of the arched entryway Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco 2012-09-22 14-26-59.jpg
Detail of the arched entryway

The architectural partnership of Walter Danforth Bliss and William Baker Faville designed the clubhouse in an Italian Renaissance Revival style influenced by palazzos of Florence. [4] The six-story building has a U-layout and is between a surface parking lot owned by the club and a former YWCA building owned by the Academy of Art University.

The front of the building uses materials of contrasting colors consisting of common bond red brick walls, cream-colored terra cotta details, black iron railings, and a red tile roof. The arched entry way has a rectangular frame with marble spandrels and spans the first and second stories. The third story has corbelled balconies in front of each window. The fourth floor has a pair of terra cotta escutcheons with the original WAC logo. The fifth and sixth floors have a two-story colonnade in front of a loggia. The other three sides of the building are relatively plain. [4]

The interior includes a formal lobby with an ionic order of paired columns and pilasters supporting beams treated as an entablature. The swimming pool is dug into the basement based on structural considerations. The public dining room is on the fourth floor with a private dining room, known as the Tapestry Room. The building also contains a gym, locker rooms, spa, salon, offices, kitchens, conference rooms, and hotel rooms available to guests of members. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colony Club</span> Private social club in New York City

The Colony Club is a women-only private social club in New York City. Founded in 1903 by Florence Jaffray Harriman, wife of J. Borden Harriman, as the first social club established in New York City by and for women, it was modeled on similar gentlemen's clubs. Today, men are admitted as guests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Club of New York</span> Private social club in Manhattan, New York

The University Club of New York is a private social club at 1 West 54th Street and Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Founded to celebrate the union of social duty and intellectual life, the club was chartered in 1865 for the "promotion of literature and art". The club is not affiliated with any other University Club or college alumni clubs. According to The New York Times, the club is considered one of the most prestigious in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palace Hotel, San Francisco</span> Hotel in California, United States

The Palace Hotel is a landmark historic hotel in San Francisco, California, located at the southwest corner of Market and New Montgomery streets. The hotel is also referred to as the New Palace Hotel to distinguish it from the original 1875 Palace Hotel, which had been demolished after being gutted by the fire caused by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Club</span> United States historic place

The California Club is an invitation-only private club established in 1888, based in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haas–Lilienthal House</span> Historic house in California, United States

The Haas–Lilienthal House is a historic building located at 2007 Franklin Street in San Francisco, California, United States, within the Pacific Heights neighborhood. Built in 1886 for William and Bertha Haas, it survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire. The Victorian era house is a San Francisco Designated Landmark and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It was converted into a museum with period furniture and artifacts, which as of 2016 received over 6,500 visitors annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittsburgh Athletic Association</span> United States historic place

The Pittsburgh Athletic Association is a historic, Benno Janssen designed building located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Opened as the home of a private social and athletic club of the same name, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houston Hall (University of Pennsylvania)</span> Student union in University City

Houston Hall is the student union of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Completed in 1896, it was the first student union built on an American college campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harmonie Club (Detroit, Michigan)</span> United States historic place

The Harmonie Club is a club located at 267 East Grand River Avenue in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1975 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Leland Hotel (Detroit)</span> United States historic place

The Detroit-Leland Hotel is a historic hotel located at 400 Bagley Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is the oldest continuously operating hotel in downtown Detroit, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The ballroom of the Detroit-Leland has hosted a nightclub, the Leland City Club, since 1983. The hotel is now named The Leland and no longer rents to overnight guests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crescent Athletic Club House</span>

The Crescent Athletic Club House is a building at 129 Pierrepont Street at the corner of Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City. Designed by prominent Brooklyn-based architect Frank Freeman and completed in 1906, the building is known today as the Bosworth Building of Saint Ann's School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aurora Elks Lodge No. 705</span> United States historic place

The Aurora Elks Lodge No. 705 is a Mayan style building on Stolp Island in Aurora, Illinois. It is included in the Stolp Island Historic District. The building was built in 1926 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Athletic Club</span> Athletic club, hotel in Seattle, United States

The Washington Athletic Club, founded in 1930, is a private social and athletic club located in downtown Seattle. The 21-story WAC clubhouse opened in December 1930, and was designed in the Art Deco style by Seattle architect Sherwood D. Ford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outing Club</span> United States historic place

The Outing Club is located in the central part of Davenport, Iowa, United States. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977. In 1985 it was included as a contributing property in the Vander Veer Park Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Club of Albany</span> United States historic place

The University Club of Albany, New York, was a social club founded in 1901 that closed in 2022. It was most recently housed in a Colonial Revival brick building at the corner of Washington Avenue and Dove Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midwest Athletic Club</span> United States historic place

The Midwest Athletic Club is a historic athletic club building located at 6 N. Hamlin Ave. in the West Garfield Park community area of Chicago, Illinois. The club was built in 1926-28 under the direction of a committee of West Side business leaders. The thirteen-story building's design featured ornamental terra cotta, large arched windows on the third floor, and a mansard roof; it also provided views of Garfield Park, the north side of which was across the street. Its facilities included an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a gymnasium and exercise rooms, handball courts, billiard rooms, a library, dining rooms, and a ballroom. The club grew to include 2000 members in its first year, most of them businessmen and their families; however, the building entered receivership in 1930 and was converted into a hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotel Indigo Atlanta Midtown</span> Building in Atlanta, Georgia

Hotel Indigo Atlanta Midtown is a historic building in midtown Atlanta, Georgia. Designed by Atlanta-based architectural firm Pringle and Smith in 1925, the brick building is located on Peachtree Street, across from the Fox Theatre. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2006, and, in 2022, is a member of Historic Hotels of America.

The Francisca Club is a women's only private social club in San Francisco, California. It is apparently the oldest private women's club surviving in San Francisco and has been in its clubhouse since the 1920s. It had typically had a membership of around 500; however, recently this has declined to closer to 400.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indianapolis Athletic Club</span> United States historic place

The Indianapolis Athletic Club was founded in 1886 and quickly became a premiere private club for Indiana businessmen and society elite. It was especially active in Indiana Democratic politics. Credited with fielding one of the first football teams in Indiana and hosting many of the earliest games, it also promoted baseball and boxing matches. The IAC was a founding member of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States on January 21, 1888.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's Athletic Club of Alameda County</span> United States historic place

The Women's Athletic Club of Alameda County, at 525 Bellevue Ave. in Oakland, California, was built in 1928–29. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. It has also been known as The Bellevue Club, as Women's Athletic Club, and as Bellevue Club Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YWCA Building (Oakland, California)</span> Historic womens building in California

The YWCA Building, now the Envision Academy of Arts & Technology and Common Webster, is a historic Young Women's Christian Association building in Oakland, California designed by early female architect Julia Morgan. It was completed in 1915, became an Oakland Designated Landmark in 1977, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "National Register Information System  Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco (#04000955)". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. November 2, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  2. "General Manager Profile, The Metropolitan Club, San Francisco, CA" (PDF). Club Management Association of America - Georgia Chapter. Kopplin, Kuebler & Wallace. January 24, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  3. Barmann, Jay (November 17, 2016). "S.F. The 9 Coolest Private Clubs in The Bay Area". SFist . Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Corbett, Michael R. (July 23, 2004). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco". National Register of Historic Places . National Archives . Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  5. Lara, Adair (July 18, 2004). "S.F.'s exclusive clubs carry on traditions of fellowship, culture--and discrimination". SFGate . Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  6. Bowles, Nellie (July 23, 2004). "S.F. women's clubs aging, rolls declining". SFGate . Retrieved April 16, 2024.