The Metropolitan Club is a

women's club The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a par ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Their clubhouse is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as the Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco.

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. It was the first women's athletic club west of the Mississippi. The clubhouse was built in phases in 1917 and 1923. The site was selected in the

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

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. In 1966, the membership voted to change their name to the "Metropolitan Club" to reflect their broader mission beyond just athletics. In the 1980s, the club discussed but ultimately declined merging with the nearby

Olympic Club The Olympic Club is an sports club, athletic club and private social club in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. First named the "San Francisco Olympic Club", it is the oldest sports club, athletic club in the United States. Established o ...

, a then all-male athletic organization. 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. The club is a popular rental venue for wedding receptions and other events.

Architecture

The architectural partnership of

Walter Danforth Bliss Walter Danforth Bliss (1874-1956) was an American architect from California. Many of his buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Biography Early life Walter Danforth Bliss was born in Nevada in 1874. His parents were D ...

and William Baker Faville designed the clubhouse in an

Italian Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ...

style influenced by palazzos of Florence. The six-story building has a U-layout and is between a surface parking lot owned by the club and a former

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

building owned by the

Academy of Art University The Academy of Art University (AAU or ART U), formerly Academy of Art College and Richard Stephens Academy of Art, is a private for-profit art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded as the Academy of Advertising Art by Richard S. S ...

. The front of the building uses materials of contrasting colors consisting of common bond red brick walls, cream-colored

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

details, black iron railings, and a red tile roof. The arched entry way has a rectangular frame with marble

spandrels A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

and spans the first and second stories. The third story has

corbelled In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the st ...

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 classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

in front of a

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

. The other three sides of the building are relatively plain. The interior includes a formal lobby with an

ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

of paired columns and

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

supporting beams treated as an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

. 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.

References

External links

640 Heritage Preservation Foundation
{{Woman's club movement National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco Italian Renaissance Revival architecture in the United States Renaissance Revival architecture in California Bliss and Faville buildings Organizations established in 1915 1915 establishments in California 1917 establishments in California Buildings and structures completed in 1917 Women's club buildings in California Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in California Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco Women in California Athletics clubs in the United States

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links