Getting membership in particular clubs was essential to gaining and keeping a spot at the top of the social ladder. Club membership was also intertwined with professional standing. the vast majority of partners in banking and industrial firms held membership in several clubs and the era's biggest business deals often over a meal in one of their dining rooms.

The Metropolitan Club was dubbed the "Millionaire's Club" by the press. It not only drew the city's wealthiest as members, but also had the most imposing and lavish design.

Men including J.P. Morgan, William K. Vanderbilt, and William C. Whitney founded it out of frustration with the historic Union Club, which occupied outdated facilities on an unfashionable stretch of Fifth Avenue and had refused membership referrals by some of its most important members. John King- President of the Erie Railroad Company and Morgan's friend- supposed got rejected because he had poor table manners.

Morgan chose McKim, Mead, and White to design the structure you see in front of you. It was the premiere firm for social clubs, and would also design the original Penn Station and J.P. Morgan's Library. The marble building was created to resemble a 15th-century Florentine palace. And the sheer height of its main stories- 25 feet- gave it gravitas.

Today, the Metropolitan Club remains private but open to public rental for events that range from weddings to celebrations for Hollywood actors.