The 1882 clubhouse, located at Fifth Avenue and 32nd Street
The Knickerbocker Club was founded in 1871 by members of the Union Club of the City of New York who were concerned that the club's admission standards had fallen.[6] By the 1950s, urban social club membership was dwindling, in large part because of the movement of wealthy families to the suburbs. In 1959, the Knickerbocker Club considered rejoining the Union Club, merging its 550 members with the Union Club's 900 men, but the plan never came to fruition.[6]
The current clubhouse at 2 East 62nd Street, photographed in 2011
The Knick's current clubhouse, a neo-Georgian structure at 2 East 62nd Street, was commissioned in 1913 and completed in 1915,[7] on the site of the former mansion of Josephine Schmid, a wealthy widow.[8] It was designed by William Adams Delano and Chester Holmes Aldrich,[6] and it has been designated a city landmark.[7]
Membership
Members of the Knickerbocker Club are almost-exclusively descendants of British and Dutch aristocratic families that governed the early 1600s American Colonies or that left the Old Continent for political reasons (e.g. partisans of the Royalist coalition against Cromwell, such as the "distressed Cavaliers" of the aristocratic Virginia settlers), or current members of the international aristocracy. Towards the middle of the 20th century, however, the club opened its doors to a few descendants of the Gilded Age's prominent families, such as the Rockefellers and Stillmans.
E. Digby Baltzell explains in his book Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class:
The circulation of elites in America and the assimilation of new men of power and influence into the upper class takes place primarily through the medium of urban clubdom. Aristocracy of birth is replaced by an aristocracy of ballot. Frederick Lewis Allen showed how this process operated in the case of the nine Lords of Creation who were listed in the New York Social Register as of 1905: “The nine men who were listed [in the Social Register] were recorded as belonging to 9.4 clubs apiece,” wrote Allen. “Though only two of them, J. P. Morgan and Cornelius Vanderbilt III, belonged to the Knickerbocker Club, the citadel of Patrician families (indeed, both already belonged to old prominent families at the time), Stillman and Harriman joined these two in the membership of the almost equally fashionable Union Club; Baker joined these four in the membership of the Metropolitan Club of New York (magnificent, but easier of access to new wealth); John D. Rockefeller, William Rockefeller, and Rogers, along with Morgan and Baker were listed as members of the Union League Club (the stronghold of Republican respectability); seven of the group belonged to the New York Yacht Club. Morgan belonged to nineteen clubs in all; Vanderbilt, to fifteen; Harriman, to fourteen.” Allen then goes on to show how the descendants of these financial giants were assimilated into the upper class: “By way of footnote, it may be added that although in that year [1905] only two of our ten financiers belonged to the Knickerbocker Club, in 1933 the grandsons of six of them did. The following progress is characteristic: John D. Rockefeller, Union League Club; John D. Rockefeller Jr., University Club; John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Knickerbocker Club. Thus is the American aristocracy recruited.”[2]
Christopher Doob wrote in his book Social Inequality and Social Stratification in U.S. Society:
Personal wealth has never been the sole basis for attaining membership in exclusive clubs. The individual and family must meet the admissions committee's standards for values and behavior. Old money prevails over new money as the Rockefeller family experience suggests. John D. Rockefeller, the family founder and the nation's first billionaire, joined the Union League Club, a fairly respectable but not top-level club; John D. Rockefeller Jr., belonged to the University Club, a step up from his father; and finally his son John D. Rockefeller, III, reached the pinnacle with his acceptance into the Knickerbocker Club (Baltzell 1989, 340).[1]
John Moors Cabot (1901–1981), U.S. Ambassador to five nations during the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations. Descendant of John Cabot (born 1680), a highly successful merchant of the prominent Boston BrahminCabot family
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933), 30th President of the United States. During his presidency, he is known to have restored public confidence in the White House after the many scandals of his predecessor's administration. He was a direct descendant of John Coolidge (1604–1691), a member of the English landed gentry who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1630 and a member of the Boston Brahmin Coolidge family
Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1815–1882), lawyer and politician who gained renown as the author of the classic American memoir Two Years Before the Mast. Both as a writer and as a lawyer, he was a champion of the downtrodden, from seamen to fugitive slaves and freedmen. Descendant of Founding FatherFrancis Dana (1743–1811), and of French Huguenot Richard Dana (1620–1690) who arrived in Massachusetts during the later end of the Puritan migration to New England.
Ogden Goelet (1851–1897), yachtsman and heir to one of America's largest business empires at the time. Member of the prominent Goelet family, descendants of an aristocratic family of Huguenots in France who escaped from religious persecutions and arrived in New York in 1676. His daughter, Mary Goelet, married Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe
John Bertram Oakes (1913–2001), iconoclastic and influential U.S. journalist known for his early commitment to the environment, civil rights, and opposition to the Vietnam War. Great-great-great-grandson of GeneralSir Hildebrand Oakes (1754–1822)
George P. Putnam (1887–1950), American publisher, author and explorer. Husband of Amelia Earhart the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Grandson of George Palmer Putnam (1814–1872), founder of the prominent publishing firm that became G. P. Putnam's Sons. Descendant of army generalIsrael Putnam (1718–1790) and English Puritan John Putnam (1580–1666)
Theodore Roosevelt Sr. (1831–1878), father of President of the United States, member of the patrician Roosevelt family He was Secretary of the Union League Club and a Founding Member of the Knickerbocker Club in 1871.
Viscount Paul de Rosière (1908–1995), Cartier's Chief Executive.
Count Teofilo Guiscardo Rossi di Montelera (1902–1991), Italian bobsledder who competed in the early 1930s, and a world champion power boat racer, winning world championship in 1934, 1937, 1938, and was set to defend the Gold Cup in 1939 when war broke out. He was the heir of the aristocratic family Rossi di Montelera
Cornelius Vanderbilt III (1873–1942), general. Member of the prominent Vanderbilt family. Great-great-grandson of the railroad and shipping tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt ("The Commodore"), one of the richest American in history. Descendant of the famous Dutch corsair Jan Janszoon (1570–1641)
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (1884–1970), railroad executive, yachtsman, bridge player, and a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family. Great-great-grandson of the railroad and shipping tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt ("The Commodore"), one of the richest American in history. Descendant of the famous Dutch corsair Jan Janszoon (1570–1641)
BaronEgon von Vietinghoff-Scheel (1903–1994), German-Swiss painter, author, philosopher and creator of the Egon von Vietinghoff Foundation. He reconstructed the lost painting techniques of the Old Masters, and created some 2.700 paintings
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