In 1796, the City Tavern building was constructed as a tavern and quickly became one of the most frequented spots in Washington, DC during the Federal period of the United States. Many of the Founding Fathers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, frequented the tavern fairly often and held many a conversation within its walls. Additionally, due to its location, the tavern was more or less Georgetown’s central hub. During the 1800s, the tavern would change hands numerous times, finding various degrees of success. As the 1800s reached an end, so too did the tavern’s function as an inn, leaving it solely as a bar. Even this status did not last long, however.The City Tavern was repurposed numerous times for commercial business operations between 1900 and 1960, no longer being a bar or tavern. In 1960, however, a small group happened upon the building and formed the City Tavern Association in order to restore the building to its former glory. The association purchased the building outright, and began a restoration effort that same year. In 1962, the association completed renovations and re-opened the building as the City Tavern Club, a private social club. On January 17th of 1992, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the City Tavern continues to host the City Tavern Club.

A view of City Tavern in 2008. Image by AgnosticPreachersKid on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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The City Tavern Club is a private social club in Washington, DC’s Georgetown area that is housed in a building of the same name, the City Tavern. Constructed in 1796 as an inn, the City Tavern building changed hands many times throughout its history until it became the home of the City Tavern Club after it was restored in 1962. In January of 1992, the City Tavern was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the City Tavern is still the hosting clubhouse of the City Tavern Club, and it continues to host some of the elite of Washingtonian high society.

City Tavern

You may not be able to get into these buildings, but you can view each of these sites of private meetings and secret history and imagine what took place inside. To make this an easier walking tour, visit sites 1-5 separately or take the D6 or 42 bus between the Sulgrave Club and the Alibi Club. The 38B bus will connect you from the Cleveland Abbe House to City Tavern.

Mary Newton Foote Henderson (1841-1931), suffragist, entertainment writer, nutrition and hygiene expert, and self-taught designer, moved with her husband to Washington, DC in 1889. Her husband was former Missouri Senator John B. Henderson (1826-1913); he had served in the Senate 1862-1869, was a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln, and was one of the authors of the 13th Amendment. The Hendersons built a brownstone mansion, called Boundary or Henderson's Castle, at what was then the outskirts of the city at the intersection of 16th Street and Florida Avenue. The Hendersons bought and sold land along this corridor, which Mary Henderson referred to as "my 16th Street." Mary Henderson contracted architect George Oakley Totten, Jr. (1866-1939) to design an addition on her mansion and thereafter made him her "official" architect. In 1895, Totten took the role of Designer of the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department, and also designed many private residences for Washington elites. Totten and Henderson collaborated on several buildings along 16th St., which Henderson wished to aggrandize as a gateway to the city and White House. Henderson was an advocate of civic improvements and influenced by the City Beautiful movement, which sought to use architectural beauty to create harmony and virtue among a city's residents. She worked to increase executive presence in the outer 16th Street area of town and led the Woman's 16th Street Improvement Association. Later in her life, she published a pamphlet containing her testimonies before Congress and letters to the editor of the Washington Post on the subject. Henderson was involved with the Congressional Club from its founding and served as part of its leadership. An influx of wives and daughters of Congress members arrived in the city in 1907, leading to a push for a social club for these women. In May 1908, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed H.R. 22029, granting a charter to the Congressional Club. Mary Martindale Perkins served as the first club president. The club originally leased space at 1432 K Street, but began to look for a house to buy when it outgrew this space. Henderson suggested building a clubhouse, offering a lot she owned at the intersection of U Street and New Hampshire Avenue (first for rent, then donated to the club) and the services of Totten. The club had a budget of $30,000 to construct the building, which as a result is less ornate than Henderson and Totten's other collaborations. Henderson was involved in minute details of the house design, even painting hearth tiles while which she did not approve of the color chosen by the club president. The main door of the club's blond brick structure is located on New Hampshire Avenue, with a Palladian window above the entrance on the second story. A stone balcony runs under this window. At the southwest corner of the building is a rotunda with a copper dome. The interior of the building features several angular salons and a club library, now used for the display of artifacts and gifts. On the second floor is a hexagonal congregation space. In 1939, Beall and LeMay constructed a two-story addition on the north side of the building. Over the course of the twentieth century, the club has mobilized to support war efforts and support service members; hosted notable speakers and courses to promote new ideas to members who may not have had access to education; and hosted social events. The club's membership was exclusive, though it has expanded over time to include the spouses of a greater range of federal officials. In 1988, Stephen Lowey, husband of Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY), was the first male member to attend the club's orientation.

The Congressional Club received a charter in 1908 from the United States Congress as a non-partisan social club for the wives of members of the House of Representatives and Senate. This Beaux-Arts/Classical Revival clubhouse was built in 1914, designed by George Oakley Totten, Jr. under the guidance of Mary Foote Henderson for an invigorated 16th Street district. Annually the club hosts a luncheon in honor of the First Lady of the United States. The National Register of Historic Places recognized the clubhouse in 2011. Sitting at the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue NW and U Street NW, the building is a contributing property to the Sixteenth Street Historic District.

Congressional Club

Kappa Alpha Psi, originally called Kappa Alpha Nu, was founded 107 years ago at Indiana University to help change its lack of student events/activities&nbsp;for African American students at the time. There were not that many activities due to the Jim Crow laws which were enforced around the time. Kappa Alpha Psi sponsors programs that provide community service, social welfare, and academic sponsorship&nbsp;through its foundation, the Kappa Alpha Psi Foundation. It is also a supporter of the United Negro College Fund and Habitat for Humanity. Kappa Alpha Psi was founded by 10 African American students who were, Elder&nbsp;Watson Diggs,&nbsp;Dr. Ezra D. Alexander, Dr. Byron Kenneth Armstrong, Atty. Henry Turner Asher, Dr. Marcus Peter Blakemore, Paul Waymond Caine, George Wesley Edmonds, Dr. Guy Levis Grant, Edward Giles Irvin, and Sgt. John Milton Lee. The founders picked the name Kappa Alpha Nu at first to honor Alpha Kappa NY which was a preceding fraternity that became inactive because they had too little registrars. The name, however, was changed on May 15, 1911, after it became the use of a new racial slur "Kappa Alpha Nigs" &nbsp;heard by its main founder Elder Watson Diggs. During this time period, it was rare to see other African American students around campus. Jim Crow laws were in effect during this time period, which in Indiana impacted the areas of education and miscegenation. African American students could go weeks without seeing one another and their participation in school activities was typically prohibited or highly discouraged.&nbsp;African American students were also not allowed to join athletic teams with the exemption of track and field. It is this reason that it strengthened their reasoning and bond of creating this fraternity. It provided the sense of membership and involvement that other whites had the privilege of having with no consequences. By 1913, the fraternity expanded with its second undergraduate chapter opening at the University of Illinois and started growing exponentially since in different universities all over the country. In the 1950s Black fraternities, it was popular for them to have step shows. Kappa Alpha Psi started doing these, incorporating what is called the “Kappa Kane” for a cane stepping choreography. In the 1960s the national organization of the canes started off very long and plain and by the 1960s the canes were decorated with the fraternity colors in a specific method called “wrapping”. The canes were shortened so they could twirl and tap the cane in the choreography.&nbsp; The fraternity has grown over the years&nbsp;and has a large following in the African American community. The fraternity has grown to have 721 undergraduate and alumni members. They also have numerous famous and well&nbsp;respected members such as Colin Kaepernick, who recently starred in a controversial Nike ad which made headlines worldwide. Other members include Comedian Cedric The Entertainer, Journalist Tavis Smiley, Christain artist Lecrae, and Bernard Harris who was the first African American astronaut to walk in space.

This location is the site of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity's Washington Alumni chapter which, in 1949, worked with undergraduate chapters at Howard University and Miner Teachers College to build what the call the "Kappa Kastle". This became a popular center for social activity, activism, and philanthropy for African Americans. Kappa Alpha Psi is a current collegiate Greek-letter fraternity known mostly for its predominately African American membership. Kappa Alpha Psi was founded January 5, 1911, at Indiana University. It has over 160,00 members and 721 undergraduate chapters. It also has international chapters in the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Japan, United States Virgin Islands, Nigeria, and South Africa. The fraternity's motto is "Achievement in every field of the human endeavor."

Historic Kappa House

Sitting between New Hampshire avenue North West and Eighteenth Street North West off DuPont Circle in Washington D.C. there sits a beautiful historical building built by Perry Belmont and his wife. The building was completed in 1909 at the extravagant cost of $1.5 million. It was designed by Eugene Sanson, a famous French architect who had designed many grand homes and chateaus in Europe. Sanson was known for his use of lighting and space and for his magnificent staircases which is all seen in the Belmont mansion. The building was only used for about two months out of the year when owned by Perry Belmont for the Washington party season. The mansion was a site of elegance, gracious and grand hospitality, of distinguished diplomats, world-renowned guests and romance. The Belmont’s entertained often and had a staff of about 34 servants, whom had their own quarters in the basement of the mansion. They used the house from 1909 to 1925. It was then closed and put on the market for sale with the stipulation that it could not be altered for 20 years after the purchase. The building remained unused until about 1935 until the General Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. Perry Belmont, being a Freemason, was thrilled to sell the building to someone who would take care of it and use it well. He sold the building to the Eastern Star for only $100,000. As part of the agreement with Mr. Belmont, The General Grand Chapter law states that the Right Worthy Grand Secretary must live in the building, so the building is still a private residence as well as their Headquarters. One of the most interesting guests that was housed by Perry Belmont was Edward, Prince of Wales. Edward was supposed to visit the president but Woodrow Wilson was taken ill and the prince was not able to stay with them at the mansion. Without many other options the Secretary of State sent a telegram to Mr. Belmont asking to use his mansion. Without hesitation he agreed and for ten days he housed the future King Edward the VIII.

The Belmont mansion built in 1909 by famous French architect Eugene Sanson for Perry and Jessie Belmont, is now known as the International Headquarters for the Order of the Eastern Star. The Order of the Eastern Star (also known as OES) is a philanthropic international organization to give a part of their time to many projects that benefit mankind and that also holds its members to a very high standard much like the Freemasons. This mansion was previously used by the Belmonts to host parties and special events, and at one point in time hosted the Prince of Wales, until its closing in 1925. When it was purchased by the General Grand Chapter in 1935 it was purchased for 1.5% of the original construction price and is not used not only as the headquarters but as the home of the Right Worthy Grand Secretary and their family. 

The Belmont Mansion: International Headquarters for the Order of the Eastern Star

In 1876, John Wesley Powell, along with four other men, founded the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC, with the intention of forming a sophisticated, intellectual social club for the elite of the capital city. It was not until 1950 that the Cosmos Club purchased its current clubhouse, otherwise known as Townsend House. Townsend House itself was commissioned by Richard H. Townsend for himself and his wife in 1898, and construction on the house was completed in 1900. Upon its completion, Townsend House became a focal point for social life in Washington, DC until Richard’s untimely death in 1902. The house was then left to his wife and their daughter Mathilde. Upon Mrs. Townsend’s passing, Mathilde and her husband inherited the home. The two lived there until Mathilde’s death in 1949. After her passing, her husband sold the home to the Cosmos Club that same year.Before acquiring Townsend House, the Cosmos Club had occupied a number of other buildings in the years since its founding, but the Townsend House was set to be their permanent residence. Renovations were made to the house over the years to fulfill the club's needs, including expansions to the house in general. On April 3rd, 1973, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Cosmos Club. Today, the renovated Townsend House building still serves as the active clubhouse for the Cosmos Club.

The Cosmos Club is a private club located in Washington, DC. Founded in 1876, the Cosmos Club states that it is dedicated to the intellectual advancement of science, literature, and art among its active members. Through the years since it was established, the Cosmos Club has held numerous high-profile denizens of Washington, DC, and continues to do so today. The club’s current clubhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 3rd, 1973.

Cosmos Club

Architect George Cary constructed this house, which takes up an entire city block, around 1900 for Herbert Wadsworth (1851-1927) and his wife, Martha Elbert Blow Wadsworth (1864-1934). Wadsworth, a wealthy gentleman farmer, hailed from Geneseo, New York, and built the mansion primarily for entertaining. Charles A. Langley was the chief builder for the project. The house follows the shape of its triangular lot, and features curved faces on two corners. It rises three and a half stories from a cyma capped limestone base. The exterior is yellow Roman brick with cream-colored terra cotta trim. Broadly, the building's style is Beaux-Arts, incorporating aspects of French and English 17th and 18th-century architectural styles. Many details in the interior of the house remain intact. The eclecticism of the house reflects the mood of the period in which it was built. One of the city's first internal garages was the mansion's "automobile room." The American Red Cross briefly occupied the mansion as its headquarters, when Wadsworth transferred it to the organization in 1917. After Wadsworth's death in 1927, his widow Martha owned the building for five years. Miss Mabel Boardman purchased the building in 1932 for use as a private women's club. The original entrance was changed in this same year as part of a remodel designed by Frederick H. Brooke. The new entrance was also renovated in 1952. Boardman lived across the street from the mansion, and sought to found a private club to sponsor social, artistic, literary, and musical activities. Furthermore, she and her associates bought the Wadsworth house to prevent it "from falling into undesirable hands" (Ganschinietz 3). The Sulgrave Club took its name from the ancestral home of George Washington and the inspiration for its organization from the Colony Club in New York and Chilton Club in Boston.

The Sulgrave Club is a private women's social club, similar to New York's Colony Club. It is headquartered in a Beaux-Arts mansion designed by George Cary near Embassy Row in Washington, DC. It has also been known as the Wadsworth House. The National Register of Historic Places recognized the building in 1972.

Sulgrave Club

The Alibi Club was first established in 1884 by seven prominent members of Washingtonian society, all of whom were previously members of the Metropolitan Club, an elite gentleman's club. As indicated by the club's own notation, its purpose is to allow men to come together in order to foster "mutual improvement, education, and enlightenment." Furthermore, the Alibi Club sought to allow its members to escape from the day-to-day toils of married life and their own business deals and engage in self-betterment with like-minded members. As indicated by the name of the organization, members of the Alibi Club would be provided with an alibi when family members would inquire about their whereabouts while at the Club. Initially, this was achieved through the club simply not installing a telephone into the club building. Once a phone was installed, however, its number was not listed, and as a result, telegraphs were the only way to attempt to contact members present. Inquiries were met with alibis for the respective members, however. Through its time active, the Alibi Club has hosted members identifying as distinguished civic leaders, philanthropists, Washington corporate leaders, presidents, and numerous other high-ranking men in Washingtonian society. Though access to the club is almost entirely restricted to members, guests are occasionally permitted in special cases. In cases such as this, the club has played host to world leaders, such as King Leopold and Prince Albert of Belgium, as well as Prince Henry of Prussia. Some American members have included: John Foster Dulles, George H.W. Bush, General George C. Marshall and Allen Dulles. The building housing the Alibi Club appears to be an unassuming brick rowhouse. Little has been done to modify the exterior of the building, and as such, it retains an architectural look reminiscent of the other historical buildings surrounding it. The interior of the clubhouse holds numerous rooms of varying decor, ranging from a dining room with a tavern serving table to a smaller room filled with Japanese wall scrolls. In short, the Alibi Club, though it appears to be a simple rowhouse on Eye Street, holds within it a vast variety of rooms and accommodations for its prestigious members.

The Alibi Club is a private gentleman's club located in Washington, D.C. The Club itself is an exclusive, private affair, whose members consist largely of prominent men in Washington, D.C. society. Originally located on 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, the current building, merely a few blocks away from the White House, served as the Club's active location beginning in 1886 up until the present. 

Alibi Club

On October 1, 1863, six members of the United States Treasury met with the intention of forming a social and literary club for the elite in Washington, DC. Within two weeks of the initial meeting, the Metropolitan Club was formed, with 43 founding members of the club, as well as an established constitution. While the club initially only consisted of members within the capitol, the Metropolitan Club began to induct members from outside of Washington, DC, a year after the foundation of the club. The club continued to grow in membership in the following years, but from 1867 until 1872, the Metropolitan Club was inactive due to the aftermath of the American Civil War. In 1872, the club was revived, and its revival marked it as the first of many private clubs to be established in the following decades.

In its first few decades, the Metropolitan Club was housed in several different locations before they decided in the 1880s that they wanted to have a permanent residence for the club. A plot of land at 1700 H Street, N.W., was acquired in 1883, and a clubhouse was built the same year. A fire damaged the building in 1904, however, and the club decided to have the building demolished as a result. From 1905 until 1908, the Metropolitan Club inhabited several temporary spaces for the club, and in 1906, a reconstruction effort for the clubhouse on 1700 H Street was put underway. In 1908, the clubhouse was finished, and it serves as the current permanent residence of the Metropolitan Club. The clubhouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 12, 1995.

The Metropolitan Club is a private club headquartered in Washington, DC. Founded in 1863 by six members of the United States Treasury, the Metropolitan Club was established in an effort to create Washington, DC’s, “first literary and social club.” The current residence of the Club was constructed in 1908 and was placed on the national Register of Historic Places in March of 1995. The Metropolitan Club is still active and is as exclusive as it was at the time of its founding.

Metropolitan Club

Timothy Caldwell,&nbsp;a wealthy Philadelphia businessman, began building&nbsp;a row house on I Street in Washington in 1806 and completed it two years later. He remained the owner of the property
until 1840. In 1811, James
Monroe, who served as both Secretary&nbsp;of State and Secretary of&nbsp;War under President James Madison, and his wife Elizabeth moved into the house, furnishing&nbsp;it with valued objects the couple&nbsp;had acquired
while he had served as America’s Minister to France in the 1790s. When the British invaded the capital during the
War of 1812, the original White House was burned down, and Monroe's house subsequently became the hub of social activity in the capital. When Monroe was inaugurated president in
March 1817, the White House was not yet fully restored, so Monroe used his own house as his official 
residence until he moved into the renovated White House in September.&nbsp;His first inaugural ball was held&nbsp;in the
house's second floor parlor, which still exists. Somewhat ironically, after the Monroes moved
out, the house became the home of the British legation, where many diplomatic 
events were held. Charles Francis Adams, Sr. – the son
of a president and the grandson (and biographer) of another – moved in
and enjoyed a lively social life there in the early 1860s. His son, the future author Henry Adams, also lived
there as a young man. In 1840, Caldwell sold the property to Francis
Markow, who in turn sold it to meteorologist Cleveland Abbe in 1877. Born in 1838, Abbe in his youth had dedicated his career
to science. In 1868, he became director
of the Cleveland Observatory and began his life’s work in meteorology
there. Using the then-recent invention of the telegraph,
he established in 1871 America’s first nationwide weather service, the United States Weather Bureau (later the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.weather.gov">National Weather Service</a>).&nbsp; Abbe moved to Washington that same year, intending
to stay in the city only a short time, but remained for the rest of his life. He lived in the house that bears his name for over thirty years, from 1877 to 1909. He retired in 1916 at the age of 78, and
died a few months later. More than a scientist and administrator, Abbe
was a teacher and propagandist on behalf of the benefits of science. Curiously, the house was deemed a landmark because of its association with Abbe, not because President James Monroe, Charles Francis Adams and Henry
Adams had all lived there, nor because it had served as the unofficial White
House for about six months in 1817! The structure is a red-brick row house, 32 feet wide,
with three stories plus a dormered attic with a grey slate gable roof. The solid-wood entrance door, which is to the left
of the first-floor windows viewed from the street, is a 20th century
reproduction of the original. In 1881, Abbe built additional rooms in the rear
on the upper floors and removed a stable and other outbuildings in the
backyard. Non-original elements include a modern second floor concrete deck,
fire escapes and a large fourth floor studio dormer. The Arts Club of Washington was created in 1916, its founders inspired by
similar clubs in London and New York. It was the first club in&nbsp;the nation's capital&nbsp;to admit women as
charter members. Its first president was sculptor <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kirke_Bush-Brown">Henry K. Bush-Brown</a>. In addition to a clubhouse, the Abbe House serves
the Arts Club of Washington as an art gallery, performance space and symbol of
preservation. The club gives an annual award, the National Award
for Arts Writing, “in recognition of excellence in writing about the arts,”
which is presented at a formal dinner at the Cleveland Abbe House. The club also provides scholarship awards to
young artists.

The Cleveland Abbe House (also known as The Monroe House, or the Caldwell-Monroe-Adams-Abbe House) is a red-brick row house in the Federal style, completed by businessman Timothy Caldwell in 1808. It first became historically significant as the house in which Secretary of State and War (and future President) James Monroe lived from 1811 to 1817. After Monroe was inaugurated as president, while the White House was still being restored, it became the presidential residence for several months. 

Charles Francis Adams, Sr., the son and grandson of presidents, also lived in the house in the early 1860s. Its final private resident was the scientist Cleveland Abbe, who founded the U.S. Weather Bureau (now known as the National Weather Service), and who lived there from 1877 to 1909. After Abbe's death in 1916, the house was purchased by the newly-formed Arts Club of Washington. 

The club still owns the house nearly a century later, and holds many arts-related events at the site. The house was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1975.

Clubs and Secret Societies of the Capitol

City Tavern

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information