Metropolitan Club (San Francisco)

The building you are approaching at 640 Sutter Street is known as the Metropolitan Club, but it earned its local reputation as the house that women built. Founded in 1915 as the Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco, it was the first institution of its kind west of Chicago. At a time when women's clubs typically favored cozy, residential-style parlors, this organization made a bold statement by creating a large-scale, commercial-style facility modeled after the athletic clubs previously reserved for men.