The Journal · The Brantford Club
The Albany Club vs The Brantford Club: Toronto and Brantford
The Albany Club is a private members’ club at 91 King Street East, Toronto, established 1882 by its own history. The Brantford Club has kept its business and social club at 98 George Street in Brantford since the last night of 1898. One fits a Toronto working week, the other a Brantford one; the Club’s own affiliate list names the Albany Club.
If the door you wanted is the one in Toronto, here is the Albany Club as its own site lists it: 91 King Street East, Toronto, Ontario M5C 1G3, telephone 416-364-5471, info@albanyclub.ca. Its Second Floor Dining Room serves lunch from 11:30 am daily and dinner from 5:00 pm, as it lists them, and reservations go through its concierge. If you typed the two names with a “vs” between them, you wanted the comparison: a city club on King Street East against a small-city club on George Street.
Begin with the two working weeks. A person whose office is on Bay Street walks to 91 King Street East in the time it takes to finish a phone call, and the Albany Club has stood there since 1882, established by friends and supporters of Sir John A. Macdonald, with over 850 members today, by its own pages. A person whose week runs through the Court House and the offices on Dalhousie Street walks to 98 George Street, where The Brantford Club has kept its rooms since 1898 in an Italianate house built around 1855. The Brantford Club is Brantford’s private business and social club, formed in May 1898, incorporated by Letters Patent on July 16, 1898 per the Club’s centennial history, and opened on the last night of that year.
Can a Brantford member use The Albany Club?
The Brantford Club’s own affiliate clubs page lists the Albany Club, 91 King St E, Toronto, among the private clubs with which it is affiliated, and states that its concierge service arranges a letter of introduction for meeting rooms, dining, and overnight accommodation at affiliated clubs. That is all the Club publishes on the question. The Albany Club’s reciprocal page speaks from its own side: affiliation with over 250 private clubs through International Associate Clubs, the Platinum Club Network, and what it calls bilateral relationships, with its concierge sending an introduction letter before a member travels, and a warning that some clubs charge a reciprocal member an additional fee. A member of the house at 98 George Street who wants a table on King Street East asks the Club here first; what the receiving club will extend on the day is confirmed with your own club before you travel.
King Street East for a Toronto Week
If your week is in Toronto, the Albany Club is the right club, and this page should say so plainly. Its site describes a club a downtown day can use: two dining rooms, three bars and lounges, a Rooftop Lounge over King Street, private rooms for a board table or a dinner, and member suites for the night. Its Present and Future page states the club’s politics in its own words, as the only remaining politically-minded private club in the country, and that is the Albany Club’s own account of itself. Keep the club where your week is kept.
George Street for a Brantford Week
The Brantford Club answers the other week. Since 1898 the Club has kept one house at 98 George Street, within sight of the Court House, the Bown property bought for $4,500.00 per the centennial history. The kitchen is in the building, under executive chef Eric Wasylenky, and the Churchill Pork Chops take their name from the guest who signed the Visitors’ Register on January 3, 1901. The Club ruled in 1911 that a member was never to be interrupted by the telephone at his meal. A person whose clients are in Brant County, Paris, or Cambridge, and whose evenings end within twenty minutes of the Court House, keeps this club because it is where the week already is. The Club’s membership page puts it in its own four words, “Membership is open to all,” and the Journal’s entry on what a private members’ club is explains what the roll is for.
The first Sir John A. Macdonald was a guest in this house when Dr. Bown kept it; his friends founded a club on King Street East in 1882. The house on George Street has kept its own roll since 1898.
The Rooms Each Club Names
The two lists read like the two buildings: a club house of several floors in downtown Toronto, and a doctor’s house of the 1850s.
The Albany Club, 91 King Street East
By its own site: the Main Dining Room of 33 by 41 feet with a dais across the front; the Second Floor Dining Room for daily lunch and dinner; the Backroom Bar; the Tap Room Lounge off the lobby; the Sir John A. Room with its marble bar; the Meighen Lounge and library; the Fairclough Room, the Prime Minister’s Suite, and the Premiers’ Suite for private tables; the Rooftop Lounge; member suites upstairs.
The Brantford Club, 98 George Street
By the Club’s own pages and centennial history: the dining room, where the framed Charter of July 16, 1898 hung; the Waterous Family Dining Room, named for the family entered on the Charter roll as Manufacturer; the 98 George Room, the Cocktail Fridays room; the Bateson Lounge; and the pub. The private rooms take meetings and dinners, the menu settled with the kitchen for each. No guest rooms.
The Albany Club vs The Brantford Club, from Their Own Pages
Each row is taken from the club’s own site. The row both leave blank is the fee, and the Journal’s explainer on private club membership cost in Ontario says why.
| The row | The Albany Club | The Brantford Club |
|---|---|---|
| Established | 1882, by friends and supporters of Sir John A. Macdonald, by its own history | Formed May 1898, incorporated July 16, 1898, opened December 31, 1898 |
| Address | 91 King Street East, Toronto, M5C 1G3 | 98 George Street, Brantford, N3T 2Y4, on the Court House corner |
| What it says it is | A club for conservative-minded leaders in politics and business, in its own words | Brantford’s private business and social club, since 1898 |
| Membership it names | A Membership Director and a society for members under 35, by its join page | An individual membership and a Corporate Membership |
| Reciprocity | Over 250 affiliated clubs through IAC, the Platinum Club Network, and bilateral arrangements; a concierge letter | More than 150 affiliated clubs across Canada and around the world; a letter of introduction arranged by the Club |
| Fees | Its join page offers a schedule as a download; no figure appears on the page itself | None printed; ask by email, and a person, not a form, writes back |
One at Home and a List of the Rest
The older pattern of club membership was one club at home and a list of the others, carried through reciprocity, and both these clubs still keep it. The Albany Club’s reciprocal page opens with the promise that a member will be welcomed around the world. The Brantford Club publishes the same shape at a smaller scale: more than 150 affiliated private clubs, with meeting rooms, dining, and overnight accommodation at the receiving club, letters of introduction arranged. So the person who works most weeks in Brantford and takes a Toronto client to lunch twice a year holds the roll at home and asks the Club for a letter when the week goes to King Street East. The Journal’s entry on reciprocal club membership sets out what the letter carries, and at 98 George Street the asking is one email.
The Brantford Club’s affiliate clubs page names the Albany Club at 91 King St E under Ontario, beside the National, Hamilton, London, Rideau, and Windsor clubs. The Albany Club’s own reciprocal page describes its arrangements by network and by concierge without printing a roll of Ontario clubs, so this Journal makes no claim about what that list holds. Ask the Club here for the letter before the train leaves.
The short answers
Is The Albany Club the same as The Brantford Club?
No. The Albany Club is a private members’ club at 91 King Street East in downtown Toronto, established in 1882 by its own history. The Brantford Club is at 98 George Street in Brantford, in a house of the mid-1850s, and opened on December 31, 1898.
Does The Albany Club have accommodation?
Yes, as it states. The Albany Club publishes member suites on its Accommodations page, with check-in at 3 pm and check-out at 11 am, booked through its concierge at 416-364-5471. The Brantford Club keeps no guest rooms at 98 George Street.
Does either club publish its membership cost?
Neither prints a figure on its pages. The Albany Club’s join page offers a schedule as a download and names a Membership Director to write to. At The Brantford Club the question is answered by email, from a person, and the Journal explains how Ontario club pricing is usually built.
How far is The Albany Club from The Brantford Club?
By car along Highway 403 and the Gardiner Expressway, downtown to downtown; the time depends on the hour you leave. The Albany Club lists parking at 65 King Street East; the Brantford house stands a street from the Court House.
Sources: the Albany Club’s own Visit the Club, Present and Future, Reciprocal Clubs, Apply to Join, dining, lounge, and Accommodations pages; the Club’s membership and affiliate clubs pages and centennial history; and the Journal’s register of private clubs in Ontario, where each club is dated from its own record. The full set of these comparisons lives on a register page in the Journal.
The Brantford Club, 98 George Street, Brantford, Ontario N3T 2Y4 · Open in Google Maps
The roll nearer the Court House
Toronto has kept the Albany Club since 1882, and a Toronto week belongs there. A week that ends within sight of the Court House belongs at 98 George Street. Write, and the answer comes from a person.
manager@thebrantfordclub.com · 519-752-0931 · Membership
