The Rainier Club

The Rainier Club is Seattle's oldest private city club, founded in 1888 and housed since 1904 in a downtown clubhouse designed by Kirtland Cutter, with a south wing added by Carl F. Gould in 1929. It operates as a combined social, business and athletic club: two private bars, a seasonal restaurant, coworking space, a reading room, a pool and games room, a gym and dry sauna with 24-hour access, valet parking and overnight suites. The club says it runs more than 400 events a year, from member dinners and concerts to wine and whisky tastings and business-focused programming. Membership is sold in three published tiers -- resident members aged 40 and over, members aged 18 to 39, and non-residents living and working more than 50 miles from the club -- and unlike most clubs of its vintage the club publishes both the initiation fee and the dues for each. Members also hold reciprocal privileges at private clubs elsewhere: the club describes a network of more than 140 clubs on its membership page and roughly 60 national plus more than 40 international clubs on its travel page. Non-resident members additionally receive a Palmer Advantage golf and travel membership.

How it works

The club is a single downtown house used for dining, coworking, fitness, overnight stays and events, with a programme of more than 400 member events a year and member-run committees. Prospective members schedule a clubhouse tour and are quoted the published tier rates; the initiation fee can be financed at no APR for up to one year under contract, subject to conditions. Partners and spouses living in the same household share membership privileges. Travelling members use the reciprocal network, which includes overnight accommodation at selected clubs such as the Metropolitan Club in New York and the Casino de Madrid.

Typical member

Members are Seattle-area business, professional and civic people, with a distinct under-40 tier and a non-resident tier. The club publishes no membership total or occupational breakdown.

The Rainier Club is one of the few historic American city clubs that puts its whole price list on the website, which makes it a useful benchmark: $4,000 to join and $575 a month for a resident member over 40, $3,000 and $475 a month under 40. On an annual basis that is roughly $6,900 in dues for a full resident member, well above an alumni club and well below what is reported at invitation-only clubs. The under-40 tier and the interest-free initiation financing are clearly aimed at recruiting younger professionals, which is the structural problem most clubs of this age face. Two cautions. The club's own pages give three different sizes for the reciprocal network (140-plus, 100-plus, and 60 national plus 40-plus international), so treat the number as approximate. And membership size is not published, so there is no way to judge how busy the house is from the website alone.

Editorial analysis by Peer Group Guide editors. It is separated from the record above and follows the editorial policy.