To spot the University Club of San Francisco, just look for the large, square, four-story red-brick building at the corner of California and Powell Streets, with rows of arched windows and colorful flags fluttering above the entrance.
Alright, let’s travel back in time for a moment-imagine it’s a foggy San Francisco evening in the late 1800s. The city glows with the energy of ambition and invention, and on top of this very hill stands a grand vision. The University Club, as you see now, was dreamed up by William Thomas, a Harvard man who, quite frankly, wasn’t satisfied with just hanging out with other Crimson alumni. He thought, why not make a club that brings together graduates from all kinds of universities-East Coast, West Coast, and everywhere in between?
Now picture the first clubhouse: a cozy two-story Victorian on Sutter Street. Imagine the lively roar of conversation as gentlemen in waistcoats debated after dinner, the clink of glasses in the private dining room-and maybe the occasional complaint about the chilly Bay air. At the time, just completing two years of university was something to brag about! Back then, the club was men-only, and membership was a special badge of honor.
But the story takes a sudden, smoky turn. In 1906, the earth itself started to rumble-the legendary San Francisco earthquake struck. Fires raged through the city, and the original clubhouse was reduced to ashes. For a while, the members were like students without a dorm-always moving, always hoping to find a new home.
Two years later, opportunity knocked atop Nob Hill, right where you’re standing now-on land that once held the fabled mansion of Leland Stanford before it too was claimed by the flames. Talk about dramatic real estate turnover! The club hired renowned local architects Bliss & Faville, who must have enjoyed playing architectural matchmaker, since they also designed the Westin St. Francis and the Southern Pacific Building. Their creation here-a stately, Italianate brick fortress-still stands strong, a survivor of both fire and time. The building’s shape is solid and dignified, and if you look at those rows of arched windows, you might almost hear echoes of laughter from dinner parties gone by.
Inside, the club was like a university in miniature, with guestrooms, a restaurant and bar, a grand library, and even a squash court built where Stanford’s horses once trotted. It was a palace for thinkers, leaders, and adventurers-President Herbert Hoover and naturalist John Muir were just a few of the famous members who walked these halls. Imagine Hoover pondering politics with a glass in hand, or Muir quietly plotting his next mountain adventure.
Change has blown through these doors over the years-allowing women as members only after a long battle with tradition and the threat of lawsuits in the 1980s. Today, just over 500 chosen individuals call the University Club their sanctuary, but its spirit-open-minded, a little exclusive, and always curious-lives on.
And if you ever wanted to have a drink where presidents, poets, and pioneers once did… well, now you know where to apply! So, keep an ear out for ghostly debates drifting from the upper floors, and maybe give a friendly wave to the past as you move on to your next stop.
