Jazz softly seeps into the ornate blue and gold entranceway. The tick-tock of the Georgian grandfather clock keeps time as Ella Fitzgerald muses about love. The giggles and cries of its notoriously noisy F street neighbor Thurston Hall seem unable to penetrate the wall the two buildings share.

At the University Club an escape to elegance and extravagance avails itself to the GW and Foggy Bottom communities – for a small fee of, course.

The club, located at 1918 F St., is a private dining club open to its members for lunch, dinner, meetings and special events.

“This is President Trachtenberg’s vision,” Membership Director Jim Massey said. “He wanted something to compete with the Yale Club and the Harvard Club.”

The club, which opened in its current location in September 1999, makes its home in two renovated pre-Civil War houses. One house previously served as the Embassy of Uruguay, which has since moved to D.C.’s embassy row.

Catherine Filene Shouse, a GW graduate and founder of the Wolftrap Theater in Virginia and discount store Filenes’s Basement owned the other home. Before the two-and-a-half-year renovation project to join the homes, a smaller club existed in the Marvin Center.

Of the 900 members of the club, almost 600 are affiliated with GW either as faculty, members of the administration or students. Foggy Bottom locals comprise the remaining third of the members, Massey said.

Graduate student Joe Bondi joined the club as an undergraduate when it opened in 1999.

“It is a nice place to get away,” Bondi said. “As an undergraduate I ate there once a week to get away from J Street food and to go to a place where they know me by name.”

The club’s four floors offer different venues for entertaining its members.

The most ornate room is the Grant Parlor located on the club’s entrance level along with the formal dining rooms. The Grant Parlor exhibits furniture owned by former General and President Ulysses S. Grant, donated by his grandson Ulysses S. Grant III, a trustee of the University in the 1950s.

Men must wear jackets when eating in the club’s formal candle-lit dining rooms, which feature a roaming guitarist. No formal attire is required for the ladies, Massey said.

As an extra special perk, members who dine at the club often can have food named for them. They recently added the Professor Boswell Fruit Plate, named for the professor John Boswell who orders it nearly every time he eats at the club.

The second floor houses the club’s five meeting rooms. The club has up-to-date audiovisual equipment for business meetings, one of the most common uses of the building. Like its membership ratio, about two thirds of the meetings held at the club pertain to University matters, Massey said.

Members reserve the meeting rooms for conferences, seminars and private dinner parties.

The library and club administrative offices are located on the third floor. The club serves lunch in the library for people looking for a quiet place to work or study.

The Riverhose Room, named after GW’s hippo mascot, is located on the bottom floor. This room is the most informal one of the club and the most one used by students, Massey said. The burger and sandwich menu in the pub differs from the filet mignon and Alaskan salmon selections upstairs, although both types of food are served there.

GW sports memorabilia downstairs replaces paintings and portraits found on the walls upstairs.

“We have cigar, scotch and cognac tasting here,” Massey said. “Students often come here to eat and watch GW games on TV.”

Students often attend happy hour held in the Riverhose room Monday through Friday 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Bondi said he takes advantage of all the club offers. He said he uses the private dining rooms for dinner meetings with his boss or GW faculty.

“It is a great place to have events with my fraternity and other student organizations,” Bondi said.

Bondi, who is studying political management, said he likes to read in
the club’s library, which he said is quieter than Gelman.

The club-sponsored events allow members to mingle, providing students the opportunity to meet the GW administrators, including President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, who attends many of the club functions.

“It’s great for networking,” Bondi said.

Murder Mystery night, chef-cooking classes and wine-tasting seminars are just a few of the actives the club offers.

The Kennedy Center dinner package – dinner at the club followed by a show – is one of Bondi’s favorite events.

Wedding receptions with up 110 guests can be held at the club – romantic and meaningful spot for GW sweethearts.

Membership dues range from $27 to $171 a month. Student, faculty and staff members pay $27 in dues a month. The price increases if members choose to take advantage of the club’s extras such as a membership to golf courses all over the city. The average dinner entree costs about $20.

To join, one must be invited by a current member, who becomes their sponsor, Massey said. Every Tuesday members are presented to the membership board who votes on their acceptance.

A credit check is required for all members because no money is exchanged at the club, Massey said. Members receive a bill for their tab at the end of each month.

Massey said the club is expanding, gaining about 150 new members a year. The club is focused on getting some of the 11,500 GW alumni in the area to join.

The University Club is part of ClubCorp, a worldwide affiliation of country and athletic clubs. Membership at the University Club allows its members access to other ClubCorp member clubs all over the world.

Massey said parents of GW students take advantage of this by joining the University Club so their child can use the membership while the parents frequent other clubs closer to where they live.

Massey encourages students to join the club for a new venue to eat, study, relax and meet new people. Massey said it can make a big university seem smaller.

“One of the things you get from a private club is the personal recognition,” Massey said. “Anything a member needs, we try to provide.”