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List of gentlemen's clubs in Canada

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The following list is of gentlemen's clubs that operated in Canada. A gentlemen's club is a private social club that serves as a place for men to dine, drink, read, and socialize. They originated in the 18th century as a type of British social institution and flourished particularly in the 19th century. Around 50 such clubs operated at one time or other in Canada, though by the turn of the millennium, virtually none continued to exist in this form.

History

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As a part of the British Empire, Canadians adopted the gentlemen's club tradition enthusiastically. Most of Canada's clubs were founded during the Victorian era and used similar rules to their British counterparts, including: a proscription on discussions about politics and religion, silence in reading rooms, and a ban on smoking in dining areas. Moreover, clubs oriented towards businessmen prohibited briefcases in dining rooms.[1]

Wallace Clement described Canada's gentlemen's clubs as "one of the key institutions which form an interacting and active national upper class."[1] Clement listed the six most important clubs as the National, York, Toronto, Mount Royal, Saint James's, and Rideau.[1] Meanwhile, Peter C. Newman stated that the clubs that "really count" were the York, Toronto, National, Mount Royal, Saint James's, Rideau, and Vancouver.

By the 1970s, gentlemen's clubs had started to decline in prestige and importance. Several factors contributed to this decline. During the preceding decade, Canada had begun to abandon its British culture, traditions, and symbols.[2] Bryan Palmer described this process as a shift in "self-conception away from an age-old attachment to empire, in which comfort could be taken from a prideful understanding of keeping alive European traditions."[3] As quintessentially British institutions, gentlemen's clubs suffered from this transformation. Another reason was that the baby boomer generation that had come of age during the countercultural revolution was skeptical of authority, tradition, and formality,[4] all of which gentlemen's clubs embodied. Consequently, baby boomers joined private clubs in far smaller numbers than preceding generations. Finally, changes to Canadian tax law forbade members from writing off club dues as business expenses.

In his 1975 tome The Canadian Establishment, author and journalist Peter C. Newman devoted a chapter to gentlemen's clubs, entitled "Clubland on the Rocks." Newman described the generational change that was leading to the decline in clubs, saying,

Not so very long ago, at lunchtime on any given weekday, the nation's Establishment conducted most of its charitable, commercial, and political liaisons inside club dining rooms. This is no longer true. The new-breed wheelers are dealing downtown in the smart places where they can sniff out the fast money, looking past their luncheon companions' shoulders to see who's breaking bread with their competitors.[5]

In the 1970s, many clubs began to struggle financially. These financial difficulties, coupled with pressure from feminists who opposed all-male clubs, led all of Canada's gentlemen's clubs to cease operating as such and begin accepting female members. During the following decades many clubs continued to struggle attracting new members.

By 1998, in his third volume of the Canadian Establishment series, Newman concluded that Canada's clubs had faded into total irrelevancy. In a chapter entitled "Boarding Up the Private Clubs," he wrote,

the classic men's dining clubs have become relics of another age. Like the Old Establishment adherents whom they fed, housed and cosseted, there institutions depended on exclusivity for their justification. Now that the Establishment is open to anybody, regardless of their pedigree or school tie, the clubs that perpetuated those notions have lost their reason for existence. To be clubbable means precisely nothing.[6]

Since the 1980s, many clubs have closed, merged, or reformed. Today, Canada's former gentlemen's clubs function mostly as business and networking institutions and provide themed event nights for their members. Along with moving to a mixed-sex format, most clubs have adopted more casual dress and behavioural codes.[7][8]

List of clubs

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Name Province City Established Became mixed-sex Original affiliation Fate
400 Club Alberta Calgary 1951 1989 Petroleum industry Closed in 2002[9]
Albany Club Ontario Toronto 1882 1979 Conservative Party
Arts and Letters Club of Toronto Ontario Toronto 1908 1985 Arts
Assiniboia Club Saskatchewan Regina 1882 1988 none Closed in 2007[10]
Beaver Club Quebec Montreal 1785 Fur trade Closed in 1827
British Public Schools Club British Columbia Victoria 1926 - Public schools Closed in 1978
British Public Schools Club of Vancouver British Columbia Vancouver 1932 - Public schools Closed in 1968
Calgary Petroleum Club Alberta Calgary 1948 1989[11] Petroleum industry
Carleton Club Manitoba Winnipeg 1901 1991 none Closed in 1995[12]
Chinook Club Alberta Lethbridge 1901 199? none Closed
Club Saint-Denis Quebec Montreal 1874 198? Francophone Closed in 2009;[13] reopened in 2023
Cypress Club Alberta Medicine Hat 1903 19?? none
Edmonton Club Alberta Edmonton 1899 1986 none Closed in 1994
Edmonton Petroleum Club Alberta Edmonton 1950 1987 Petroleum industry Closed in 2015; reorganised in 2020 as the Edmonton City Club[14]
Engineers' Club of Toronto Ontario Toronto 1895 198? Engineering Merged into the Ontario Club in 1992[15]
Engineers' Club of Montreal Quebec Montreal 1902 ? Engineering Closed in 1979
Frontenac Club Ontario Kingston 1907 - none Closed in 1931; Frontenac Club Inn opened in 2000
Garrison Club Quebec Quebec City 1879 1984 Army Merged in 1984 with the Cercle Universitaire to become the Cercle de la Garrison
Halifax Club Nova Scotia Halifax 1862 1986[16] none
Hamilton Club Ontario Hamilton 1873 1986[17] none
High River Club Alberta High River 1906 - none
Kent Club Ontario Chatham 1932 none
Laurentian Club Ontario Ottawa 1904 none Closed in 2000
London Club Ontario London 1880 1993 none
Manitoba Club Manitoba Winnipeg 1874 1991 none
Montefiore Club Manitoba Winnipeg 1910 Jewish Closed
Montefiore Club Quebec Montreal 1880 2005 Jewish Closed in 2010
Montreal Club Quebec Montreal 1865 ? none ?
Mount Royal Club Quebec Montreal 1899 1990[18] none
Mount Stephen Club Quebec Montreal 1926 198? none Closed in 2011[19]
National Club Ontario Toronto 1874 1992 Canada First
Niagara Falls Club Ontario Niagara Falls 1948 none Closed in 1994
Ontario Club Ontario Toronto 1909 1985 Liberal Party Merged into the National Club in 2010
Ottawa Club Ontario Ottawa 1888 - none Closed ca. 1910[20]
Pacific Club British Columbia Victoria 1885 - none Closed in 1966
Primrose Club Ontario Toronto 1907 Jewish Closed ca. 1996
Quadra Club British Columbia Vancouver 1922 - none Closed in 1940; reopened as a tavern in 1941[21]
Ranchmen's Club Alberta Calgary 1892 1993[22] none
Renfrew Club Alberta Calgary 1929 - none Merged into Calgary Petroleum Club in 1950
Rideau Club Ontario Ottawa 1865 1979 none
Rossland Club British Columbia Rossland 1896 - none Closed in 1969[23]
Saint James's Club Quebec Montreal 1857 1979 none
Saskatoon Club Saskatchewan Regina 1907 1989 none
St Catharines Club Ontario St. Catharines 1878 1985 none
Terminal City Club British Columbia Vancouver 1892 1991[24] none
Toronto Club Ontario Toronto 1835 1993[25] none
Union Club New Brunswick Saint John 1884 1936 none
Union Club of British Columbia British Columbia Victoria 1879 1994 none
United Services Club Quebec Montreal 1922 - Military Closed in 1994
University Club of Montreal Quebec Montreal 1906 1988 University graduates
University Club of Toronto Ontario Toronto 1906 1988[26] University graduates
University Club of Vancouver British Columbia Vancouver 1911 - University graduates Merged into the Vancouver Club in 1986
Vancouver Club British Columbia Vancouver 1893 1993 none
Waterloo Club Ontario Waterloo 1913 2015[27] none Closed in 2021
Western Club British Columbia Vancouver 1901 - none Merged with part of the University Club to form the Quadra Club in 1922
Windsor Club Ontario Windsor 1903 1985[28] none
York Club Ontario Toronto 1909 1992 none

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Clement, Wallace. The Canadian Corporate Elite: An Analysis of Economic Power. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1975: p. 247.
  2. ^ See, Christian P. Champion, The Strange Demise of British Canada: The Liberals and Canadian Nationalism, 1964-68, Toronto: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010.
  3. ^ Palmer, Bryan D. Canada's 1960: The Ironies of Identity in a Rebellious Era. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009, p. 5.
  4. ^ Epstein, Barbara. "Anarchism and the Anti-Globalization Movement." Monthly Review, vol. 43 no. 4, pp. 1-14.
  5. ^ Newman, Peter C. 1975. The Canadian Establishment, Volume 1. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. p. 364.
  6. ^ Peter C. Newman, Titans: How the New Canadian Establishment Seized Power, (Viking, 1998), 96.
  7. ^ Marotte, Bertrand. "Montreal's old clubs see new life with hip set; Anglo havens widen membership reach." Globe and Mail, 19 February 2007.
  8. ^ Stanley, Adam. "Private clubs let go of old rules to attract new clientele." Globe and Mail, 1 October 2019, p. B6.
  9. ^ Scotton, Geoffrey. "Calgary's 400 Club likely faces receivership." Calgary Herald, 4 September 2002, p. D1.
  10. ^ Johnstone, Bruce. "Regina institution to close Dec. 31." Regina Leader-Post, 19 December 2007, p. D1.
  11. ^ Ferguson, Eva. "Petroleum Club caves in; women everywhere, almost." Calgary Herald, 30 May 1989, p. A1.
  12. ^ Martin Cash, "Carleton Club closes doors," Winnipeg Free Press (29 July 1995), A10.
  13. ^ "La fin d'une époque." Radio-Canada, 17 July 2009.
  14. ^ Cook, Dustin. "Petroleum Club moves Downtown under new name." Edmonton Sun, 19 February 2020, p. A8,
  15. ^ Alastair Dow, "Clubs' merger a Toronto milestone," Toronto Star, (28 November 1992), C2.
  16. ^ "Male bastion gives ground." Globe and Mail, 31 January 1986, p. A5.
  17. ^ Kenny, Amy. "The Hamilton Club: not an 'old boys' club' anymore." Hamilton Spectator, 9 September 2015, p. HB8.
  18. ^ Stikeman, H. Heward. The Mount Royal Club, 1899-1999. Montreal: Price-Patterson, 1999: pp. 96-97.
  19. ^ Lampert, Allison. "Mount Stephen Club to close." The Gazette, 19 October 2011, p. B1.
  20. ^ Christopher McCreery, Savoir Faire, Savoir Vivre: Rideau Club 1865–2015, (Dundurn Press, 2015), 22.
  21. ^ Jack Wasserman, The Vancouver Sun (15 June 1965), p. 25.
  22. ^ Crawford, Anne. "Club open to women - finally." Calgary Herald, 18 February 1993, p. B6.
  23. ^ Bignell, Tyler. 30 March 2022. "The Rossland Club: The Rise and Fall of an Exclusive Gentlemen's Club." Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre.
  24. ^ "Men's club relents." Financial Post, 4 June 1991, p. 6.
  25. ^ Kastner, Susan. "Men's clubby inner sanctum creaks open to admit women." Toronto Star, 27 June 1993, p. A1.
  26. ^ Cameron, Stevie. "Well, at least the bar will remain sacrosanct at the University Club." Globe and Mail, 4 August 1988, p. A2.
  27. ^ Thompson, Catherine. "A new era: Waterloo club admits first female member." Waterloo Region Record, 2 October 2015, p. A1.
  28. ^ Severn, Ken A. The Windsor Club: An Historical Perspective. Windsor: Walkerville Publishing, 2012: p. 43.
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