Chapter Nine
The City Clubrooms
A look back to cily clubrooms 1867-1973 . Merger wiJh the Sydney Club .
In the early days of lhc club there was no great need for clubrooms . After the historic meeting at McGrath ' s llotcl in King Streeton 15 October 1867 the club ' s meetings wen : held in the Au " ralia Hotel in Castlereagh Street The club membership was small , even though it had staned oFf well enough , obtaining 80 members by the time of lhe first annual meeting on 2 January 1868 . The subscription of £ 1 lsOd and entrance fee of 105 6d did OOI produce enough money to rent rooms .
In 1870 . however , it w : is suggested ~ ia t the club purchase some land on the harbourside for club premises and a slipway . But no action was taken . By 1884 . and with great fear and trepi < btion . the club renred their fmt room at the Campagnoni Catering Company building in Pitt Street at a rental of £ 45 per annum . 11te club only stayed there for three momhs as the rooms were not sufficiently used by members . but they continued rouse this room occasionally for meetings right up to 1890 . lo 1899 the cluh w •• nn1 nourishing . Liabili ties exceeded nsse1s and lhe club sorely needed a friend . Fonunarely such a friend was found in the person of Vice-Commodore Samuel Hordem who made a present of £ 100 to the club . By 1889 the membership had fallen to 60 members , by 1891 ii had risea to 67 and by 1899 there were 77 members . lo 1900 , however . the affairs of lhe club were looking much helter . Membership increased dramatically , almost doubling , 10 150 members . WJuu happened 1oproduce this rum around is nor recorded . Perhaps it wllS due to Commodore Hordem ' s busine ,; s acumen . The improvement was such that the
Commiuco again decided 10 explore the possibili1y of obtainlttg clubrooms . f ' inally . in 1900 , a tcntallve step was taken and a lease arranged for roorns in the basement of Bulls Chambers in Moore Street . Moore Street is now Manin Place and Bulls Chambers was on 1he site where lhe head office of the Overseas Telecommunications Commission ( Australia ) now sto . nds at 32 Martin Place .
Upwuil 1891 what wenowknowasMrutin Place consisted of two streets , Post Office Street running along lhe side of the General Post Office from George to Piit Street , and Moore Street from Piu to CastJereagbStreet . ln 1891 borhofthesestreetswere renamed Martin Place in honour of the Chief Ju51ice Sir John Martin . In 1935 Manin Place was extended 10 Macquarie Street by the demolition of old buildings blocking the way .
The club stayed happily in Bulls Chambe11 for live years . Or happily enough , except that a few members stiU wanted waterfront facilities . Many offers of land were put forwnrd etnd much cli5causiou 1ook place buL money was a problem . Most membe11 were quite happy with city premises . A small but
interesting item is ! hat on 14 May 1903 the Committee approved the purchase of easy chairs which have been transferred from clubhouse to clubhouse and which are ! hose beautifully comfortable chairs in 1he Galatea Room nt the Sydney Club .
At 3 meeting on 11 August 1903 the Secretary said he hoped 10 have a scheme and drawings of more suitable clubrooms to place before the Commiuee at the next meeting . 11m General Committee considered thi .~ proposal at their next meeting but decided
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The entrance nnd Sccrewy ' s office in the club ' s ronnerrooms in the Savings Bank Building on tl1e corner of Pin Street and Martin Place . h is all very modem with the newfangled electric lighting , the sandblasted glass panels and lhe leadlighred windows displaying the club ' s flags . The t \ I . o umbrella srand • were later tranSfcrred to Castlereagh StreeL
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