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Alibi Club
Alibi Club is located in the District of Columbia
Alibi Club
Location1806 Eye Street, NW
Washington, D.C.
Built1869
Architectural styleItalianate
NRHP reference No.94001221
Added to NRHPOctober 21, 1994[1]

The Alibi Club is a private, traditional gentlemen's club located at 1806 Eye Street, NW in downtown Washington, D.C.[1] Its members comprise the elite of Washington, including presidents, senators, Supreme Court justices, congressmen, ambassadors and military officials, as well as prominent private citizens.[2]

The Alibi Club is located in a row house a few blocks from the White House among larger commercial buildings. The Italianate house was built in 1869 and was occupied by the Alibi Club in 1886, two years after the club's founding as an offshoot of the Metropolitan Club. The house is notable as a well-preserved example of residential architecture in an otherwise commercial district, but its chief significance is its association with the Club. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 21, 1994.[1]

Alibi Club

The club was established as a social club for mutual improvement among members of Washington society. It included Washington residents as well as out-of-town members. Its name was derived from the club practice of providing an alibi when the whereabouts of a member was questioned by the member's family.[3] Membership is limited to fifty, with new members admitted on the death of a previous member, with the unanimous consent of the membership. Membership is not revealed to outsiders, and the first public notice of membership is frequently in a member's obituary.[2]

Building

The brick, three story house stands directly on the street with no yard. It was originally rectangular in plan, but an extension was built in 1889 that runs to the alley in the rear. The house is entered through a narrow side entrance hall, 4 feet (1.2 m) wide, which widens as it goes back to accommodate a stairway. A front parlor connects to a back parlor through a wide opening. A vestibule connects the original front to the rear extension, which contains a dining room. The dining room features a fireplace whose mantel is inscribed "Alibi", and has space for a table with at least thirty chairs. A kitchen is directly above on the second floor. Other rooms on the second floor include a front parlor decorated with caricatures of members, followed by the Japanese Scroll Room, decorated with scrolls in display cases. A passage links to the kitchen using elements from the S.S. Alibi. The third floor contains three rooms used for storage. The basement contains service areas and storage, possibly with remnants of the original kitchen in the front and a storage area to the rear.[3]

The club is furnished with donated mementos that cover nearly every available section of wall.

Members

Some of the Alibi Club's most prominent members have included: President George H.W. Bush,[4] his father, Senator Prescott Bush, Supreme Court Justices Potter Stewart and Stanley F. Reed, Allen Dulles and John Foster Dulles, Speaker of the House Nicholas Longworth, and General George C. Marshall.[2][3]

Dean Acheson David Acheson

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.
  2. ^ a b c Kelly, John (May 10, 2009). "My Alibi? They Wouldn't Answer Answer Man". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-05-12. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ a b c Leiner, Glen (August 1, 1994). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Alibi Club" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-12.
  4. ^ "Bush Belongs to 3 Men's Clubs". The New York Times. February 1, 1989. Retrieved 2009-05-12. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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