The Cosmos Club, 2121 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. "founded in 1878, is a private social club for men and
women distinguished in science, literature and the arts or public
service. Members come from virtually every profession that has anything
to do with scholarship, creative genius or intellectual distinction."
Members in the Cosmos Club have included three U.S. presidents, two U.S. vice-presidents, 12 U.S. Supreme Court justices, and more than a few Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize winners, in addition to recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (Please see below.)
A few Saturdays ago I got to go on a public tour and saw:
This portrait of artist and inventor Samuel Morse (1791-1872) in the entrance hall. (Terra Foundation's 2014 Gallery of the Louvre about Morse's painting is a fabulous book which may be in the Cosmos library. It should be.)/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Also in the entrance hall on the right side is a bust of ...?/Photo by Patricia Leslie
On the second floor and centered at the end of the Long Gallery is a couple taking a dance lesson in the recently restored Warne Ballroom/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The recently restored (2012) Beaux-Arts Warne Ballroom where a dance lesson was underway. It was shocking to see...across the floor! Men in coats and ties on a Saturday. I declare! Magnifico. Maybe it is close to the apocalypse, after all/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Back to the Long Gallery above this mantle is a portrait of Henry Clay (1777-1852), statesman, member of the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, three time unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. presidency, and not a member of the Cosmos Club which was founded after Mr. Clay died/Photo by Patricia Leslie
A closer view of Henry Clay with a bad light reflection/Photo by Patricia Leslie
From the Long Gallery, peeking into what is perhaps a private dining room where luncheon is served?/Photo by Patricia Leslie
On the second floor is a bust of John Wesley Powell (1834-1902), the Cosmos founder and in whose home the Club was born/Photo by Patricia Leslie
One of the most spectacular rooms at the Club is the library which the website says contains 9,500 volumes. It is a lovely, comfortable room where bookish luxuriate/Photo by Patricia Leslie
These visitors became like statues, unable to move, starstruck by the sight of a wealth of books in an elegant setting/Photo by Patricia Leslie
What? Cards? Paper cards? Used for checkouts? Are the Digital Police aware?/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Books written by living Cosmos Club members are found on these shelves, and once the authors die, their places here terminate and their books are moved elsewhere in the Club, a docent told me/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Another view of the library. Can you tell it's one of my fav digs at the Cosmos Club?/Photo by Patricia Leslie
And another view. Don't you like the circular arrangement of books on the table?/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Titles you may have read/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Another view of an unusual book arrangement. I am the bookish sort who relishes them!/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Atlas, anyone?/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Through a curtain darkly, a window at the front of the mansion looks out on Mass Ave./Photo by Patricia Leslie
How about a blind date with a book? What a clever idea!
/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The Club's chess champions for all to see, in the Periodicals Room which features 140 journal titles and adjoins the library/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The Periodicals Room/Photo by Patricia Leslie
A hallway which separates the Periodicals Room from the Warne Ballroom over which Mathilde Townsend (on wall) presides in a digital presentation, donated by members and hung in 2015. The original, painted by John Singer Sargent in 1907, was given in 1952 by Ms. Townsend, the daughter of the mansion's previous owner, to the National Gallery of Art where it is currently not on view/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Mathilde Townsend by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Please pardon the light's reflection/Photo by Patricia Leslie At this link is a better photograph. From just a cursory search, I was unable to find the birth and death years for Ms. Townsend.
One of the Cosmos' grandfather clocks, this one at the top of the stairwell on a second floor landing/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The view from the grandfather clock/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Some of the 61 Pulitzer Prize winners and Cosmos' members, pictured on the ground floor beyond the entrance hallway/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Some of the 36 Nobel Prize winners and Cosmos' members, pictured on the ground floor beyond the entrance hallway/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Some of the 55 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award and Cosmos' members, pictured on the ground floor beyond the entrance hallway/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Dolley Madison (1768-1849) presides over her room with a face rendered not as attractive as the one we have come to love and adore/Photo by Patricia Leslie
A U.S. silver dollar commemorating Dolley Madison who lived in what is now known as Madison Place on Lafayette Square from 1837 until 1849 when she died. The Cosmos Club bought the house in 1886 and occupied it until 1952 when it moved to the present mansion/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Postage stamps in the U.S. and beyond honoring past Cosmos Club members/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Darling, how pleasant it was, so unusual to see gentlemen dressed in coats and ties on a Saturday. A Saturday. Men dressed up as men!
Dearie, they were taking dancing lessons, no less, with gentlewomen dressed as if they were going to a White House event. Quelle surprise! People dressed to impress! On a Saturday morning in this town where the fashion de jour is to look as bad and as wrinkled as you possibly can.
At the Cosmos Club, gentle people treat each other with respect and dignity and dress the part. Thank goodness, some are still left. Come and see for yourself! And, perhaps, join the Club! Membership is open to all presidents, vice presidents, other VIPs named above, and others with proper credentials and pedigree. Fees are not as costly as one might think.
When: Every other month at 10 a.m. on Saturdays. The next tour is scheduled for November 11, 2017 (Veterans Day weekend).
Where: 2121 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008
How much: No charge
patricialesli@gmail.com
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