Chilton Club

Chilton Club

Chilton Club

The Chilton Club is a private social club established in 1910, located in the Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts.^[1] Founded by Pauline Revere Thayer,^[2] the club was intended in part as a counterpoint to the Mayflower Club. The club was named after Mary Chilton because she had been the first woman to step out of the Mayflower.^[3]

The club occupies a large red brick building on Commonwealth Avenue,^[4] designed in 1870 by architect "Henry Richards of the firm of Ware and Van Brunt."^[5] (However, some claim the building was designed by architects Peabody and Stearns.)^[6] The building has been altered and expanded over the years.

"On May 18, 1910, the Chilton Club applied for (and subsequently received) permission to significantly remodel and expand the house, including removing the original third floor, with its mansard roof, and adding three additional floors, two of brick and the third "in roof." They also received permission to construct an addition at the rear, 38 feet by 18 feet 9 inches, five stories high above the basement, four of brick and one "in roof." The Club retained the firm of Richardson, Barott, and Richardson, and the work was overseen by F. L. W. Richardson, son of the noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson. The addition was completed in February of 1911. ... On May 28, 1926, the Club acquired 150 Commonwealth, which had remained in the Baker Estate until the previous year. They remodeled the house, combining it with 152 Commonwealth."^[7]

Some early members included:^[8]

Katherine Abbott Mrs. Rodolphe L. Agassiz Mrs. Nelson Bartlett Mrs. Henry Forbes Bigelow Helen C. Burnham Ellen Bullard Mrs. Harold J. Coolidge Mrs. Philip Dexter

Marion H. Fenno Pauline Fenno Mrs. Henry S. Grew Mrs. Edward Burlingame Hill Mrs. Henry S. Hunnewell Mrs. John S. Lawrence Mrs. Lester Leland Mrs. Robert W. Lovett Mrs. E. Preble Motley Mrs. Henry Parkman

Mrs. Richard S. Russell Mrs. Henry H. Sprague Pauline Revere Thayer Ruth Thayer Mrs. Bayard Warren Mrs. Edwin S. Webster Mrs. C. Minot Weld Mrs. Frederick S. Whitwell Mary E. Williams Mrs. Frederic Winthrop Eleonora Sears

References

1. ^ http://www.bostonbackbay.com/visit.php?cat=24
2. ^ Mrs. Thayer dead: Paul Revere's kin; For 50 Years She Led in Social and Political Activities of Massachusetts; Was capitalist's widow; Honored by Three Presidents, She Was Noted for Her Many Philanthropies. New York Times. Sep 30, 1934. p.35.
3. ^ Samuel Hornblower. Fifteen Minutes: The Old Boys' Clubs. Harvard Crimson. April 27, 2000.
4. ^ Edwin Bacon. Book of Boston. 1916.
5. ^ http://www.bosarchitecture.com/backbay/commonwealth/152.html
6. ^ Southworth and Southworth. AIA guide to Boston, 3rd ed. 2008.
7. ^ http://www.bosarchitecture.com/backbay/commonwealth/152.html
8. ^ Constitution and By-laws, House Rules of the Chilton Club. 1922.

Further reading

• Chilton Club damaged; New Home of Women's Organozation on Commonwealth Ave Scene of a $4000 Fire. Boston Daily Globe. Jan 12, 1911. p. 9.
• Chilton Club opened. Boston Daily Globe. Apr 5, 1911. p. 10
• Drinking among women; Rev Herbert S. Johnson Gives Address Which He Said Was Suggested by Action of Chilton Club. Boston Daily Globe. Apr 24, 1911. p. 2.
• License for Chilton Club. Boston Daily Globe. Apr 30, 1911. p. 5
• Tells Mussolini's aims and progress; Count Constantini Speaks at the Chilton Club Italy's leader Has Won Whole Nation's Confidence, He Says. Boston Daily Globe. Jan 16, 1923. p. 13
• Real estate transactions; Chilton Club Purchases Adjoining Parcel. Boston Daily Globe. Jun 15, 1926. p.A19
• Faith Kidder Fuller. Seventy-five years at the Chilton Club : a memoir. Boston, Mass. : Chilton Club, 1985.
• Peggy Hernandez. In about-face, Chilton Club to admit men. Boston Globe. Oct 28, 1988. p. 1.
• Katherine Dempsey, 99, was Chilton Club social director. Boston Globe. Aug 19, 1990. p. 71.
• Elizabeth Fessenden Was Chilton club president. Boston Globe. Jan 4, 1996. p. 27.