The Montauk Club is a social club located in a Francis Kimball-designed building in

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush A ...

, Brooklyn. The Club provides dining and drinking services and offers an extensive schedule of events including a Book Club, a Beer Club, Murder Mystery Dinners, and is a sought-after wedding and event venue. Members also have privileges at 66 reciprocal clubs, located in 33 states and the District of Columbia and six countries, including Canada, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands and Philippines.

History

The Club was founded in 1889 as a traditional men's social club by a group looking for a club located in the rapidly-developing Park Slope area. The initial group of 25 charter members quickly grew to 300 and became the most prominent club in Brooklyn.

Charles Pratt Charles Pratt (October 2, 1830 – May 4, 1891) was an American businessman. Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and he established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. He then lived with his growing fam ...

, Richard Schermerhorn, Edwin Clark Litchfield and Robert Pinkerton were early members. Of the hundreds of clubs in Brooklyn at the time, the Montauk Club is the only one still in existence. The landmark clubhouse was built in 1889-91 and was designed by Francis H. Kimball in the

Venetian Gothic Venetian Gothic is the particular form of Italian Gothic architecture typical of Venice, originating in local building requirements, with some influence from Byzantine architecture, and some from Islamic architecture, reflecting Venice's trading ...

. It is reported to have been modeled after the Palazzo Santa Sofia (

Ca' d'Oro The Ca' d'Oro or Palazzo Santa Sofia is a palace on the Grand Canal in Venice, northern Italy. One of the older palaces in the city, its name means "golden house" due to the gilt and polychrome external decorations which once adorned its walls. ...

) on

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

's Grand Canal. Built of brownstone and brick, it features verdigris copper and

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 ...

produced by the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Works. It is ornamented with representations of the Montauk tribe of Native Americans the club is named after, which can be found on the building's capitals, over the main entrance, and on a continuous

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

between the third and fourth floors. Other panels depict a meeting in 1659 between the Montauks and Europeans, and the laying of the cornerstone of the building. The smaller staircase to the left of the main entrance was built as the Ladies' Entrance, the first of its kind in any social club in Brooklyn or Manhattan. It is now used as the entrance to the condominium units (see below). The club is located within the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission's

Park Slope Historic District Park Slope Historic District is a national historic district in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York, New York. It consists of 1,802 contributing buildings built between 1862 and about 1920. The 40-block district is almost exclusively residential and ...

. In 2017, the Montauk Club building received the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award from the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the

Municipal Art Society The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...

's MaSterworks Award for Best Restoration. Although not a political club, many prominent politicians of both parties were members, and the Club has hosted many prominent politicians over the years, including

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

, Dwight Eisenhower,

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

and

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

. Hugh L. Carey, Governor of New York, was a member for many years. Club membership declined in the period before Brooklyn's renaissance, and it became difficult to maintain the beautiful but aging clubhouse. The upper and basement floors were sold to a developer for condominiums, with the Club ultimately retaining ownership of the first and second floors. With a growing membership, especially of younger members, the Club continues to provide community for families and individuals.

In popular culture

The club has been used as a location in films such as ''

Prizzi's Honor ''Prizzi's Honor'' is a 1985 American black comedy crime film directed by John Huston, starring Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner as two highly-skilled mob assassins who, after falling in love, are hired to kill each other. The screenplay co-w ...

'', ''

Definitely, Maybe ''Definitely, Maybe'' is a 2008 romantic comedy film written and directed by Adam Brooks, and starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, Abigail Breslin, and Kevin Kline. Set in New York City, the film is about a former ...

'', '' Gigantic'',

Rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a rounded end wooden, plastic, or metal bat. The players score by running arou ...

'', '' Illuminata'', Q&A, and '' City Hall'' and television shows such as ''

The Mysteries of Laura ''The Mysteries of Laura'' is an American police procedural comedy-drama television series that premiered on September 17, 2014 on NBC. It was developed by Jeff Rake, who also serves as an executive producer. The series, which stars Debra Messing ...

, Boardwalk Empire, Gotham,

The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in l ...

Public Morals Public morality refers to moral and ethical standards enforced in a society, by law or police work or social pressure, and applied to public life, to the content of the media, and to conduct in public places. A famous remark of Mrs Patrick C ...

'' and '' Person of Interest''.

Gallery

File:Montauk Club from Park Street West.jpg, View of the building from the southeast, on Plaza Street West File:Montauk Club Park Street West facade detail.jpg, Detail of the Plaza Street West facade File:Montauk Club doorway.jpg, The main entrance to the building File:Montauk Club 8th Avenue facade detail.jpg, Detail of the Eighth Avenue facade, above the entrance

References

Notes

External links

* *{{Official website, http://www.montaukclub.com Clubs and societies in New York City Gentlemen's clubs in New York City Park Slope Buildings and structures in Brooklyn Culture of New York City Organizations established in 1891 1891 establishments in New York (state) Gothic Revival architecture in New York City Venetian Gothic architecture in the United States

History

In popular culture

Gallery

See also

References

External links