The Final Private Clubs in Brooklyn

(New York) While private clubs are popping up like mushrooms in Manhattan, there is only one left in Brooklyn: the Montauk Club, founded in 1889 during the Gilded Age, which inspired the creators of Downton Abbey to set the series in opulent New York at the end of the 19th century.

Its existence is owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has opened many private clubs in Manhattan recently.

“In 2021, when I took over, the club was on the verge of bankruptcy,” Montauk Club president Mary Brennan stated on a Friday night while leaning on the bar. “COVID has actually been really good to us, weirdly.”

Members watch the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on a huge screen while the retired urban planner discusses the club’s history in Park Slope, a popular Brooklyn neighborhood.

In a room festooned with little national flags, director Thomas Jolly’s drag queens won’t be criticized.

“The commitment to diversity is not new to the Montauk Club,” Mary Brennan recalls.

The club began with Jews and Catholics in 1889. You know this was unusual in the Gilded Age. The earliest Brooklyn club and one of the largest in New York. However, no one followed.”

Magnificent architecture

Mary Brennan, like other Montauk Club members, was drawn to the building’s Venetian Gothic architecture, which contrasted with most private clubs’ neoclassical styles.

Most people, including me, passed the building. The architecture is unique and gorgeous. Like most people, I thought I couldn’t afford the club.

That was early 1990s. The Montauk Club’s yearly membership cost is $650, unchanged after 30 years. Dismal compared to Manhattan’s new elite clubs.

Exclusive clubs include the Aman Club atop the Crown Building at 5th Avenue and 57th Street. Membership: $200,000. Annual fee: $15,000. Members-only frenzy includes the Aman Club, according to the New York Times.

While not all New Yorkers can afford memberships in the new private clubs for the ultra-rich, many are looking for exclusive locations to hang out with their peers outside of work, especially those who work from home. A desire that shrewd businesses are fulfilling by expanding their private clubs in pandemic-vacant buildings.

However, Montauk Club members differ.

“I like that the club is not snobby,” adds 34-year-old illustrator Sargama Gupta, who recently joined. “People don’t expect you to behave a certain way, it’s more relaxed.”

An expression of civic prosperity

It wasn’t always thus. The Montauk Club’s founders intended only wealthy men with a specific standard to join, however Jews and Catholics were welcome. Women weren’t permitted until the 1960s.

“We recognize this enterprise as an expression of civic prosperity,” said one speaker at the Montauk Club’s groundbreaking, after clarifying that clubs had become “centers of information, discussion, and influence” rather than “clubs for members’ comfort and entertainment.”

Political figures like William McKinley, Grover Cleveland, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy visited the Park Slope club.

World War I, Prohibition, the Great Depression, World War II, and the 1960s Cultural Revolution put its finances and mission at risk.

The recent pandemic could have ended it, but it didn’t. Instead, it made the Montauk Club adjust its rules and offerings. Private clubs no longer provide four appetizers, three or four main courses, and as many desserts. Offering modest dishes without a complete kitchen.

The clothing code is gone too. “All we ask is that members don’t wear anything offensive,” laughs Mary Brennan.

The modifications corresponded with the city removing bar and restaurant attendance limitations.

“That’s where COVID was really good to us,” says the Montauk Club president, named for a Long Island Algonquin tribe. People were keen to socialize after being homebound. The club felt safer than a 100-person tavern. We have lofty ceilings, large rooms, and 135-year-old windows that let the drafts in.

Another home

The club currently has 550 members, up from 200 before the outbreak.

Emily Ashton joins the new group.

“I joined the club for two reasons,” says the 51-year-old Park Slope resident and Department of Emergency Management employee.

I think the building is important to the community’s heritage. But I also wanted to make sure such a proud institution could thrive in the 21st century.

I also like having a location to bring your grandmother and childhood best friend. Everyone seems welcome.”

Nodding, childhood buddy Soroya Pinheiro sits next to him. The club feels like a home away from home, she explains.

Would the Montauk Club’s founders approve of the present management’s changes? Mary Brennan responds quickly at the bar.

“I hope they like it for two reasons. First, the club is open. Second, these men accepted Jews, Catholics, and women. They dared to differ. They were open to unorthodox behavior. I hope they think we’re following in their good footsteps.”

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