Metropolitan Club
790 5th Avenue | also 1 East 60th Street, 7 East 60th Street | Upper East Side | built 1891
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1891
Two blackballed Union Club candidates prompt J. P. Morgan and the Vanderbilts to found their own club
In 1891 the Union Club's younger members rejected two well-connected candidates. Erie Railroad president John King, backed by J. P. Morgan, was turned down reportedly for his table manners, and Dr. W. Seward Webb, a Vanderbilt in-law, over a quarrel dating from college. Morgan, the Goelets and the Vanderbilts began meeting on their own, and the press called their project the Millionaires' Club.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1891
The new club picks the name Metropolitan, and the Times jokes about Sr. and Jr.
The founders chose the name Metropolitan Club, though an older Metropolitan Club, limited to wealthy Jewish members, already stood at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street. The New York Times teased that the choice vented spite on the postmaster's letter carriers. It suggested calling the old house Metropolitan Club, Sr., and the new one Metropolitan Club, Jr.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1891
Morgan and Vanderbilt weigh in as Stanford White works out the Metropolitan Club's design
By late 1891 Stanford White and his assistant William Kendall had drawn about fifty facade sketches, and the building committee met the firm on November 20, taking separate cabs to avoid the press. The press gave J. P. Morgan some credit for moving the entrance from Fifth Avenue to 60th Street, behind a courtyard. William K. Vanderbilt, abroad, mailed White his own plans based on a French house with a central court.
“Inspired by European precedents, Morgan suggested the introduction of a courtyard to be entered through a screen on 60th Street.”
- 1894
The Metropolitan Club opens its marble clubhouse with a reception for several thousand
After a board dinner on February 20 and a public preview at the end of the month, the clubhouse opened on March 1, 1894, with several thousand people at the first reception. The building cost $1,777,480 with furnishings. Two months later the New York Evening World reported that many members stayed away, and the dining room, which could seat a thousand, rarely held more than eight.
“…the clubhouse officially opened two days later on March 1. Several thousand people attended its first reception.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1911
The club buys 11 East 60th Street and has Ogden Codman Jr. fold it into the clubhouse
In November 1911 the club bought the neighboring house at 11 East 60th Street from John McGowan, with $165,000 from J. P. Morgan & Co. Ogden Codman Jr. renovated it, adding to the clubhouse in the old house's rear yard and removing its entrance stoop.
“J.P. Morgan & Co. provided $165,000 to finance the club's acquisition of 11 East 60th Street, and the club hired Ogden Codman Jr. to renovate that house.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1945
The club narrowly escapes losing its clubhouse to its mortgage lender
Membership sank to 710 by 1942, about half the 1929 peak of 1,436, and losses reached $265,000 over 1942 to 1944. In late 1944 Mutual Life threatened to auction the clubhouse over the unpaid mortgage. In May 1945 a new president, Lee Warren James, announced a $1.8 million bond sale, which let the club narrowly avoid bankruptcy.
“By late 1944, Mutual Life was threatening to auction off the clubhouse if the club could not pay off the mortgage loan.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1953
Housekeeping staff stage a sit-down strike at the Metropolitan Club
On May 15, 1953, 56 housekeeping employees at the Metropolitan Club struck in protest. The New York Times described them as "on an appropriately discreet and decorous sit-down strike." Daytonian in Manhattan observes that even labor trouble at the club seems to be handled with politesse.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1979
A planned hotel tower gives way to landmark designation for the Metropolitan Club
In the 1970s the club weighed demolishing its courtyard for a 30-story hotel designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, which would have used air rights from the clubhouse. The Landmarks Preservation Commission held hearings in 1978 and designated the building a landmark on September 11, 1979.
“The LPC granted the designation on September 11, 1979.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Metropolitan Club (New York City)Wikipedia
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