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The Metropolitan Club
The club publishes no eligibility criteria; its own history describes the founders as men prominent in the civic, commercial, financial and social life of New York, and the club today presents itself simply as a private social club.
A profile page holds what the organization publishes and what named sources report: who it admits, what it costs, how it is structured, where it operates, and how it has changed. Every figure carries the date it was checked. A dash means the organization does not publish that fact.
Founding — The club's own history dates its formation to a dinner meeting on 20 February 1891 at which the Articles of Affiliation were signed; J. Pierpont Morgan was the first president.
The Metropolitan Club is a private social club on Fifth Avenue at 60th Street in Manhattan. It was organised in 1891 by a group of wealthy New Yorkers led by J. Pierpont Morgan, who became its first president, after the Union Club declined two candidates they had proposed. The clubhouse, designed by McKim, Mead & White with Stanford White leading the work, was occupied by members in February 1894 and remains the club's only premises; an adjoining house was added as an annex about twenty years later. The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1979. The club operates dining rooms, guest bedrooms and three floors of private event space, and rents those rooms for weddings, galas and corporate meetings as well as member functions. It is one of the few large Manhattan clubs that publishes nothing at all about how membership works: the website carries a history page, house rules, event and guest-room pages and a member login, but no membership page, no eligibility statement, no application form and no fee schedule.
How it works
Members and their guests use a single clubhouse containing dining rooms, guest bedrooms and event space. House rules require jackets and ties for men at all times and prohibit mobile phones and laptops anywhere except private event rooms and bedrooms. The club appears in the reciprocal directories of other city clubs -- The Rainier Club in Seattle names the Metropolitan Club as a reciprocal club offering overnight accommodation -- but the Metropolitan Club does not publish its own reciprocal list.
Typical member
Not publicly disclosed. The club's public site carries no membership section, no eligibility statement and no member statistics.
Membership requirements
Requirements in detail, with history →Requirements are the tests the organization itself publishes — an age ceiling, a company-revenue floor, a net-worth minimum, a role. Where a figure straddles a range, the organization's own assessment decides. Local chapters can apply stricter tests than the published standard.
| Criterion | Published requirement | Provenance |
|---|---|---|
| Other criterion | No eligibility criteria are published by the club | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
Published criteria as verified on the dates shown. Final eligibility and admission decisions belong entirely to The Metropolitan Club. See how you compare against these criteria →
Initiation fees are paid once on joining; dues recur. Chapter dues, retreats, travel and events are usually additional and are listed separately when the organization discloses them. Figures are as published or reported on the date shown — not quotations.
| Cost | First year | Three years | Provenance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual dues | Not publicly disclosed | Source ↗ | |
| Initiation fee | Not publicly disclosed | Source ↗ | |
Structure and programming
Independent context
This is a club that treats its admission process as private. Nothing on the club's site describes who may join, who proposes candidates, what a member pays, or how many members there are, so any figure circulating online should be treated as unverified. Secondary accounts of the club's history describe a membership ceiling of 750 resident and 750 non-resident members and record that widows were admitted in 1935 and women became eligible for full membership in 1974; those points come from Wikipedia's sourced article rather than the club and are recorded here with low confidence. The practical consequence for anyone assessing the club is that there is no published route in: a prospective member has to be known to existing members. The strict no-phones, no-laptops rule also makes it a poor fit for anyone looking for a place to work.
Editorial analysis by Peer Group Guide editors. It is separated from the record above and follows the editorial policy.
Similar organizations
Alternatives, grouped by need →History and changes
Site-wide change log →- fee changeFounded after the Union Club blackballed two candidates; initial dues set at $100 for resident and $50 for non-resident members with a $300 initiation fee, per Wikipedia's account ↗
- milestoneArticles of Affiliation signed at a dinner meeting; the club is organised with J. Pierpont Morgan as first president and twenty-five governors who funded the land purchase ↗
- milestoneClubhouse designed by McKim, Mead & White (Stanford White) completed; first governors' dinner 20 February, members took possession 27 February ↗
- mergerAdjoining house at 11 East 60th Street acquired and converted into an annex ↗
- milestoneWidows of members admitted, per Wikipedia's account of the club's membership policy ↗
- milestoneWomen became eligible for full membership, per Wikipedia's account ↗
- milestoneClubhouse designated a New York City landmark ↗
- milestonePenthouse dining room completed ↗
Milestones as published by the organization or reported by a named source. “Record” entries are changes to this site’s own record of the organization, kept in the public change log rather than overwritten.
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Sources
- The Metropolitan Club, The Metropolitan Club. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- History - The Metropolitan Club, The Metropolitan Club. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- Reciprocal Clubs and Travel Benefits - The Rainier Club, The Rainier Club. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- House Rules - The Metropolitan Club, The Metropolitan Club. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 2
- Metropolitan Club (New York City), Wikipedia. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 8
Source tiers follow the published hierarchy: 1 official site · 2 official membership materials · 3 application documents · 4 annual reports · 5 government filings · 6 reliable business publications · 7 credible interviews · 8 other reputable secondary sources. Sources and data policy.
Is something wrong or out of date?
Represent The Metropolitan Club? Verified representatives can submit corrections to fees, criteria, chapters and contact details, and add approved material. Submissions are reviewed by an editor and shown as organization-supplied; they never overwrite independent research.