Klotz' Hofbrauhaus
First Clubhouse of The Army and Navy Club
1603–1610 G Street NW

Accession number:
1950.01

Maker:
N/A

Historical period:
ca. 1950

Type:

Dimensions:
H x W: 18 in. / 16 in.

Acquisition date:
N/A

Credit line:
The Army and Navy Club Library Trust Fund

Location:
,

Provenance:
N/A

Label:

In 1885, seven U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps officers—veterans of the Mexican and Civil Wars—gathered at Klotz Hofbrauhaus, a German beer hall just a few blocks from the White House, to form what was first called the United Service Club. Their “clubhouse” consisted of three reading rooms above the tavern.

By 1891, the Club had outgrown those quarters and moved into a purpose-built clubhouse at 17th and I Streets NW. A year later the name was changed to The Army and Navy Club, and President Benjamin Harrison formally dedicated the building. In 1912, the Club moved once more—into its current clubhouse, which has been its home ever since.

This founding moment took place during Washington’s great period of transformation. The city’s population swelled by roughly 75% in the decades after the Civil War, fueling rapid development. As late as 1870, however, the District still had dirt roads and inadequate sanitation, and some in Congress even suggested relocating the capital farther west—a proposal promptly dismissed by President Ulysses S. Grant.