The Journal · The Brantford Club
Private Clubs in Ontario: The Register, from Toronto to Brantford
Ontario keeps a remarkable shelf of private members’ clubs: the Toronto Club, founded 1837 and by its own account the oldest in Canada, the National Club of 1874, the Hamilton Club of 1873, the Rideau Club of 1865 in Ottawa, and a dozen more. This register lists the standing city clubs, each dated from its own published record, ending at the one in Brantford, kept since 1898.
No honest register of Ontario’s private clubs exists on the open web, which is odd for a province whose club tradition predates Confederation. So the Journal has made one, in the only way this house knows: every founding year below comes from the club’s own published history, each club gets its due, and nobody is ranked. A good club is not in competition with another city’s good club; the register exists so a reader can see the shelf whole, and find the door nearest their own life.
How to Read the Register
These are city clubs, the business-and-social houses, not golf or country clubs, which are a different tradition with different economics. Each entry carries the founding year as the club itself states it and one fact about its house from the same source. Ontario’s roll is heavier than outsiders expect: two of these clubs predate Confederation, and most have outlived every factory, newspaper, and bank branch that stood near them when they opened.
The Register
Toronto Club, Toronto · 1837
The oldest private club in Canada by its own account, and third oldest in North America, in its Wellington Street clubhouse of 1888, a recognized City of Toronto heritage property.
Rideau Club, Ottawa · 1865
Commenced September 18, 1865 by its own history. Its Wellington Street clubhouse opposite Parliament Hill burned on October 23, 1979; the Club continues from 99 Bank Street.
Hamilton Club, Hamilton · 1873
Dating from 1873 and, in its own words, always at the same location at the very heart of the city, at Main Street East.
National Club, Toronto · 1874
Founded 1874; its Bay Street clubhouse of 1907 is a designated historic site, with the rare club offering of overnight rooms.
London Club, London · 1880
Its published centenary history, written for 1880 to 1980, dates the founding; the Club still keeps its house on Queens Avenue.
Albany Club, Toronto · 1882
Formed 1882 and named for the Duke of Albany, at King Street East since 1898 by its own timeline.
The Brantford Club, Brantford · 1898
Chartered July 1898 by a Manufacturer, a Banker, a Publisher, a Barrister, and a Gentleman; opened December 31, 1898 in a c. 1855 house at 98 George Street it has never left, and the only club on this register publishing its own records as a public journal.
Windsor Club, Windsor · 1903
Established 1903, the oldest private members’ club in Windsor and Essex County by its own account, now hosted on the historic Hiram Walker grounds.
Arts & Letters Club, Toronto · 1908
A cornerstone of the city’s cultural life since 1908; its Elm Street house was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2007.
York Club, Toronto · 1909
Founded 1909 by its own account, and keeping one of the city’s grand houses ever since.
Soho House Toronto · 2012
The newest entry and a different model: the international membership house opened in autumn 2012 in the Bishop’s Block of c. 1829, proof the appetite for club rooms did not end with the old century.
The Hour West of Union
A pattern in the register is worth naming plainly. The deepest concentration of clubs sits in Toronto, and so does the deepest concentration of people who might want one; the arithmetic of that city applies to its clubs as much as its housing. An hour west along the 403, the same tradition runs at Brantford scale: a private business and social club in a house older than its own city, a kitchen under executive chef Eric Wasylenky, reciprocal affiliations with more than 150 clubs worldwide, and a roll that has taken new names every year since 1898. Toronto’s clubs are excellent and Toronto-sized in every sense; the register simply notes that the shelf does not end at the city limits.
A province is measured partly in its rooms; Ontario has kept more of them than it knows.
Questions readers ask about Ontario’s private clubs
What is the oldest private club in Canada?
The Toronto Club, founded in 1837 by its own account, which also makes it the third oldest in North America. The Rideau Club of Ottawa follows among Ontario clubs, dating from September 1865.
How many private clubs are there in Ontario?
There is no official count. The standing city clubs with published histories number about a dozen, from the Toronto Club of 1837 to Soho House Toronto of 2012, with The Brantford Club of 1898 among the houses that have never moved.
Which Ontario private clubs still occupy historic buildings?
Most of them: the Toronto Club in its 1888 clubhouse, the National Club in its 1907 Bay Street house, the Arts and Letters Club in a National Historic Site on Elm Street, and The Brantford Club in a c. 1855 house older than the City of Brantford itself.
Is there a private club near Toronto but outside the city?
Several of the register entries sit within commuting range of the GTA. The Brantford Club is about an hour west along Highway 403, in the same house at 98 George Street since 1898, and asking about membership is one email.
Related: what a private members’ club is · what an 1891 Toronto club gathered for
The Brantford Club, 98 George Street, Brantford, Ontario N3T 2Y4 · Open in Google Maps
The register is open
Every club on this page keeps a door worth knocking on. Ours answers from the same house it bought in 1898, an hour west of Union, and the knock is one email.
manager@thebrantfordclub.com · 519-752-0931 · Membership at the Club
