The Knickerbocker Club (known informally as The Knick) is a gentlemen's club in New York City that was founded in 1871. It is considered to be the most exclusive club in the United States and one of the most aristocratic gentlemen's clubs in the world.
The term Knickerbocker arose partly due to the use of the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker by writer Washington Irving, and was a byword for a New York patrician, comparable to a "Boston Brahmin"."Knickerbocker". Dictionary.com. Random House, retrieved 2008-1-3.Frederic Cople Jaher, "Nineteenth-Century Elites in Boston and New York", Journal of Social History Vol. 6, No. 1 (Autumn 1972), pp. 32–77.
History
The Knickerbocker Club was founded in 1871 by members of the Union Club of the City of New York who were concerned that the club's admission standards had fallen. By the 1950s, urban social club membership was dwindling, in large part because of the movement of wealthy families to the suburbs. In 1959, the Knickerbocker Club considered rejoining the Union Club, merging its 550 members with the Union Club's 900 men, but the plan never came to fruition.
The Knick's current clubhouse, a neo-Georgian structure at 2 East 62nd Street, was commissioned in 1913 and completed in 1915,Pollak, Michael. "Was Anyone Killed at the Knickerbocker Club?" New York Times (Feb. 21, 2014). on the site of the former mansion of Josephine Schmid, a wealthy widow. It was designed by William Adams Delano and Chester Holmes Aldrich,Gray, Christopher. "Inside the Union Club, Jaws Drop", New York Times (Feb. 11, 2007). and it has been designated a city landmark.
Membership Members of the Knickerbocker Club are almost exclusively descendants of British and Dutch aristocratic families that governed the early 1600s American Colonies or that left the Old Continent for political reasons (e.g. partisans of the Royalist coalition against Cromwell, such as the "distressed Cavaliers" of the aristocratic Virginia settlers), or current members of the international aristocracy. Towards the middle of the 20th century, however, the club opened its door to a few descendants of the Gilded Age's prominent families, such as members of the Rockefeller family.
E. Digby Baltzell explains in his 1971 book Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class:
Christopher Doob wrote in his book Social Inequality and Social Stratification in U.S. Society:
Selected notable members
Charles Francis Adams III (1866–1954), Ambassador, great-grandson of the sixth U.S. president John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), and a great-great-grandson of the second U.S. president and Founding Father John Adams (1735–1826). Member of the prominent Adams family His Royal Highness Prince Amyn Aga Khan, Imam of Nizari Ismailism His Royal Highness Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (1933–2003), Imam of Nizari Ismailism. Statesman and activist who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1966 to 1977 Gianni Agnelli (1921–2003), principal shareholder of Fiat, and Italian Senator for life. He is the great-great-grandson of business magnate Giuseppe Francesco Agnelli (1789–1865) of the Agnelli family. Through his mother Princess Virginia Bourbon del Monte he is also a member of the Princely House of Bourbon del Monte Santa Maria Winthrop W. Aldrich (1885–1974), United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom and scion of the prominent political Aldrich family. Son of the influential Senator Nelson W. Aldrich (1841–1915) who was referred to by the press and public alike as the "general manager of the Nation." Descendant of John Winthrop (1587–1649) Baron Carlo Amato (1938–2021), Ambassador of The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta Chester Alan Arthur II (1864–1937), sportsman, art connoisseur, and son of U.S. president Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886). Descendant of General Uriah Stone, who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution Count Alessandro Guiccioli de Asarta (1843–1922), Senator of the Kingdom of Italy and Congressman of the Kingdom of Italy Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor (1879–1952), British politician and member of the House of Lords. Great-great-great-grandson of John Jacob Astor, the richest man in America at the time. Member of the prominent Astor family Robert Bacon (1860–1919), United States secretary of state then U.S. Ambassador to France. Scion of the Boston Brahmin Bacon family whose members included philosopher and scientist Viscount Francis Bacon (1561–1626), U.S. senator and Chief of Justice Ezekiel Bacon (1776–1870), and Massachusetts Congressman John Bacon (1738–1820) Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (1848–1930), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, then First Lord of the Admiralty. Often associated to the Balfour Declaration, public statement issued by the British government in 1917 announcing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine His Royal Highness Prince Franz von Bayern, Duke of Bavaria, head of the House of Wittelsbach Count Guerin De Beaumont (1896–1955), French diplomat and active member of the Bilderberg Group. Member of the House of de Beaumont His Royal Highness Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg (1895–1948), diplomat and grandson of King of Sweden Oscar II. In World War II he negotiated the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps. After the war, Bernadotte was unanimously chosen to be the United Nations Security Council mediator in the Arab–Israeli conflict of 1947–1948 Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. (1897–1961), General and U.S. Ambassador to seven countries. Scion of the prominent Biddle family Francis Beverly Biddle, attorney general and Nuremberg judge (1886–1968). Scion of the prominent Biddle family Prince Livio Borghese (1874–1939), Italian Diplomat in the Ottoman Empire and in China. Scion of the Princely Borghese House John Moors Cabot (1901–1981), U.S. ambassador to five nations during the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations. Descendant of John Cabot (born 1680), a highly successful merchant of the prominent Boston Brahmin Cabot family John Lambert Cadwalader (1836–1914), United States secretary of state. Descendant of John Cadwalader (1742–1786) (general during the American Revolutionary War, who served with George Washington) and Thomas Cadwalader (1707–1779). Member of the prominent Cadwalader family and Van Cortlandt family His Royal Highness Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta (1841–1934), pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Adna Chaffee (1842–1914), General and Chief of Staff of the United States Army, taking part in the American Civil War and American Indian Wars, playing a key role in the Spanish–American War, and fighting in the Boxer Rebellion in China. Descendant of Thomas Chaffee (1610–1683), businessman and landowner of the Massachusetts Colony, and scion of the Boston Brahmin Chaffee family William A. Chanler (1867–1934), explorer, soldier and New York politician. Descendant of Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley (1460–1531), Member of Parliament of England, John Winthrop (1587–1649), one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director of New Netherland from 1647 to 1664, after which it was renamed New York Count Ghislain Clauzel (1907–1992), French Ambassador. Descendant of Count Bertrand Clauzel (1772–1842), Marshal of France during the Napoleonic Wars Charles A. Coffin (1844–1926), co-founder and first president of General Electric corporation. Descendant of Tristram Coffin (1609–1681), a British aristocrat who had to flee the English Civil War and who is best known for purchasing Nantucket. Scion of the prominent Coffin family Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933), 30th president of the United States. During his presidency, he is known to have restored public confidence in the White House after the many scandals of his predecessor's administration. He was a direct descendant of John Coolidge (1604–1691), a member of the English landed gentry who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1630 and a member of the Boston Brahmin Coolidge family Pierre de Cossé Brissac, 12th Duke of Brissac (1900–1993), French aristocrat and author who wrote a series of historical memoirs. Head of the House of Cossé-Brissac Frank Crowninshield (1872–1947), journalist, developer of Vanity Fair, scion of the Boston Brahmin Crowninshield family whose members include Massachusetts governor John Crownshield (1649–1699) and Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1772–1851). Harvey Cushing (1869–1939), American neurosurgeon, pioneer of brain surgery who was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and the first person to describe Cushing's disease. Scion on the Cushing family whose notable members include American Founding Father Thomas Cushing III (1725–1788), William Cushing (1732–1810) nominated Court's Chief Justice by President George Washington and English theologian Thomas Cushing (1512–1588). Direct descendant of John Cotton (1585–1652), the great 16th century Puritan theologian Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1815–1882), lawyer and politician who gained renown as the author of the classic American memoir Two Years Before the Mast. Both as a writer and as a lawyer, he was a champion of the downtrodden, from seamen to fugitive slaves and freedmen. Descendant of Founding Father Francis Dana (1743–1811), and of French Huguenot Richard Dana (1620–1690) who arrived in Massachusetts during the later end of the Puritan migration to New England. Robert Williams Daniel, Jr. (1936–2012), member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Son of financier Robert Williams Daniel, descendant of William Randolph (prominent figure in the history and government of the English colony of Virginia) and Edmund Randolph (the seventh Governor of Virginia, the first attorney general of the United States and later served as secretary of state). Michel David-Weill, French investment banker and former chairman of Lazard Frères, art collector. Great-great-grandson of Alexandre Weill, co-founder of Lazard Frères Henry A. Dudley (1913–1995), U.S. Ambassador. Member of the ancient prominent Dudley family, whose members include Lord Henry Dudley (1517–1568), Thomas Dudley (1576–1653) Founder and Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and a founder of Harvard University, and Joseph Dudley (1647–1720) Colonial Administrator of the Dominion of New England Angier Biddle Duke (1915–1995), youngest American Ambassador in history and Chief of Protocol of the United States. Heir of the Duke Family business empire in tobacco and electric power, and major benefactor of Duke University, named after his family (one of the First Families of Virginia). Also a scion of the prominent Biddle family, and a great-great-grandson of financier Anthony Joseph Drexel who founded with J. P. Morgan the bank Drexel, Morgan & Co. (later J.P. Morgan & Co.) David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles (1904–1999), member of the House of Lords and prominent British politician who served as Minister of Education, Minister of Works, and as President of the Board of Trade T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), Nobel Prize-winning poet, playwright, and literary critic. Member of the aristocratic Boston Brahmin Eliot family, whose notable members include Charles William Eliot (1834–1926) the longest serving President of Harvard University, and Charles Eliot Norton (1827–1908) progressive social considered the most cultivated man in the United States by his contemporaries William Crowninshield Endicott (1826–1900), United States Secretary of War. Member of the prominent Endicott family, and direct descendant of John Endecott (1589–1665), one of the Fathers of New England and the longest-serving governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony