North America - Home from Home

Philippa and I have just returned from visiting various parts of North America, where we were privileged to stay at three delightful reciprocal clubs.

We firstly stayed at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia. A magnificent lobby and rooms off it were sadly deserted, although the splendid sports facilities and decent basement bar/restaurant were well used. Our room was well furnished and comfortable, but dated. We did not eat at the Club, save for breakfast which, albeit free, was very disappointing. The staff were very welcoming but not much in evidence.

Next, we moved to the Yale Club of New York. This is very well run, very comfortable and well frequented. We enjoyed the splendid drawing room, the superb library and the Tap Room for weekend brunch, lunch and dinner. The rooftop bar and restaurant are open only in the summer. Our room was very comfortable, and all staff were very pleasant. It was a relief to find a strict no tipping rule.

Next was the Union Club of British Columbia in Victoria on Vancouver Island. This is delightfully ‘old world’, with its splendid drawing room with views of the harbour and Parliament, and with a large selection of magazines. We breakfasted and dined very well in the lovely wood-panelled bar and dining room. Our bedroom, also with a partial view of the harbour and Parliament, was very comfortable and nicely furnished, although the shower room was very small. There is an unwritten custom of no tipping; again very welcome. The staff were unfailingly friendly and helpful and enforced the dress code. Ladies are not prohibited from wearing hats in the club (Hurlingham, please note). We were presented with a copy of their enormous tome ‘Our first 125 years’. They have resident mice but are not allowed a cat!

We were so lucky to have stayed at these marvellous homes from home. They were each very well located, and we would thoroughly recommend each of them.

JOHN RYLANCE

Where in the Weld!

The Weld Club in Perth, Western Australia, is historically a men’s only private social club, founded in1871 and named after the then Governor of WA, later Sir Frederick Weld. The present Club House, a two-storey Queen Anne style building with a prominent tower belvedere, is set in beautiful grounds opposite the Supreme Court. Although many other private clubs were formed in Perth in the 1890s, it remains the most prestigious and exclusive.

As an overseas reciprocal with Hurlingham, it was only in December 2023 that the Weld Club allowed women to enter without a male chaperone. Well, blow me down, Aussie blokes allowing ‘sheilas’ to taint the rarefied air of their inner sanctum, fair dinkum!

On my last trip to Perth, I chose the Weld Club to celebrate my birthday with boarding-school mates. I arrived early and the front door looked formidable. I pressed a shining brass button, then heard a click. A gentle push didn’t do it, so I had to heave a shoulder against the substantial Dundas mahogany, and it didn’t budge. I pressed the bell again and a charming receptionist greeted me and claimed that ‘it was rather heavy’. Clearly you must be a bloke to get through that door!

I was escorted to an overstuffed room, piled with colonial furniture and oil paintings of Western Australian flora. The silence was elegant and uninterrupted, apart from the hushed tones of soft-footed staff. Women weren’t allowed in the bar during the day, so we ordered champagne from the waiter. As discreetly as we dared, apart from the clickety clack of heels harmonising with high-pitched voices and wafts of fragrance, we floated across the heavy carpet to the dining room. We weren’t allowed to take photos in the Weld Club, so we had to use the ladies’ powder room as our studio!

We girls were thrilled to have had the chance to enter the hallowed halls of the Weld Club, full of amazing Australian art, glass cabinets of Australiana oozing a colonial history. It was a treat and, next time, we aim to stay at the Weld Club or, as I now call it, the ‘Hush Club’.

MONICA DAVIS