The Brook
The Brook is a private club located at 111 East 54th Street in Manhattan (New York City).
It was founded in 1903 by a group of prominent men who belonged to other New York City private clubs, such as the Knickerbocker Club and the Union Club. The name is derived from the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem The Brook, whose lines "For men may come and men may go, but I go on for ever" were consistent with the intention that the Club would provide 24-hour service and would never close its doors. In 1992, the City Journal wrote that the name was "supposed to mean that the Club is always open and the conversation flows on forever," but that "neither is strictly true." One version of the club's origin holds that The Brook was formed by two young men who had been expelled from the Union Club for trying to poach an egg on the bald head of another club member.
When the club was formed, it was announced that membership was only by private invitation and would be limited to 100 men. New York City residents who were not club members would not be admitted as guests. Membership, however, was not restricted to New York City residents — some original members came from Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
In 1954 the membership was 400 men. The Club's building, erected in 1925, was designed by the architecture firm of Delano & Aldrich, who also designed the houses of the Union Club, the Knickerbocker, and other exclusive clubs.
Presidents
- Center Hitchcock 1903 - 1908
- Robert R Perkins 1908 - 1919
- Percy R Paine 2nd 1919 - 1935
- George Eustis Paine 1935 - 1945
- Charles H Marshall 1945 - 1952
- James Bruce 1952 - 1961
- Augustus G Paine 1961 - 1971
- Richard T Frick Jr. 1971 -
Prominent members
- Oliver Belmont
- William K Vanderbilt
- William Du Pont
- Harry Payne Whitney
- Cornelius Vanderbilt
- J Pierpont Morgan
- J Pierpont Morgan, Jr.
- Oakleigh Thorne
- Martin Van Beuren
- Vincent Astor
- Charles Auchincloss
- Biddle Drexel
- Sir Eric Bowater
- John F Kennedy
- Marshall Field Jr.
- Ogden Mills
- Harry Payne Whitney
- J Borden Harriman
- Eugene V R Thayer
- Laurence Rockefeller
- Harold S Vanderbilt
- Rodman Wanamaker II
- Fred Astaire
- Winthrop W. Aldrich
- Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands
- Arleigh A Burke USN/CNO
- Harry Cushing IV
- Sir Patrick Dean
- Angier Biddle Duke
- Harvey Firestone Jr
- Henry Clay Frick
- William Randolph Hearst Jr
- Henry Heinz II
- William Ketcham Jr
- Alfred Lee Loomis Jr
- Forrest Mars
- David Naylor-Leyland
- Lester B Pearson
- Claiborne Pell
- George Plimpton
- Sir David Stirling
- George Widener
Notable members, past and present
- Fred Astaire - wore a Brook Club hatband in the 1953 film "The Band Wagon"[1]
- Michael R. Bloomberg - resigned his membership before becoming a candidate for Mayor of New York before later becoming a member again in 2011
- Michel David-Weill - French investment banker and former Senior Partner of Lazard Frères
- Admiral James L. Holloway III
- Henry Kissinger - Former Secretary of State
- William K. Vanderbilt II
- John Hay Whitney - visited The Brook and was treated as a member, but he was never actually a member of the club.
- Jerauld Wright
- John Jacob Astor IV - Richest man in America at the time - died in the Titanic
- William A. Chanler - explorer, soldier and US Congressman
- Alejandro Santo Domingo - Billionaire financier
See also
- Gentlemen's club
- List of American gentlemen's clubs
- List of Australian gentlemen's clubs
- List of London's gentlemen's clubs
References
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brook accessed = 09/20
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root