1925 F Street Club Collection

The F Street Club was once called “the hardest door in Washington to open” because of its elite status as the premier social club in the district. The private social club was started in 1933 by Laura Merriam Curtis Gross and was managed by Gross until her death in 1973. Gross was the uncrowned queen of the Republican party during her lifetime, so many of the clubs were powerful members of that party. However, in the later part of the twentieth century, more and more people of the Democratic party joined the club as well.

The club could accommodate about 48 people for dinner, and it became renowned for its intimate setting. Presidents such as Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan held parties at the club, and many more influential Washingtonians hosted and attended functions at the club.

Before becoming the F Street Club, the house was originally built for U.S. Navy Admiral, Charles Steedman in 1849. Its next owner was local businessman, Alexander Ray, whose family owned the house from 1868 until it was purchased by American University around 1920 to be used a downtown campus for the institution. When those plans did not quickly come to fruition, the university rented the house to Mrs. Gross who lived in it for a little over ten years before transforming it into the famous social club. The George Washington University purchased the house from American University, which still officially owned the property, in 1974; however, it continued to lease the property to the club. In 1999, the club disbanded, and the house became the Alumni House for GWU. President Knapp, the university’s president, moved into the house in 2008, and it remains the official residence of the president of GWU.