Rooftop patio puts new spin on National Club

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Framed by soaring skyscrapers, the small, red-carpeted stairway leading up to the front door of the four-storey National Club seems to offer a portal back to a more august time.

The 108-year-old red brick walls of the clubhouse at 303 Bay St. have borne silent witness to many of Toronto's movers and shakers, dignitaries and British royalty over the past century. The wood-panelled walls and mosaic-tile floors seem almost quaint in contrast with the glossy marble surfaces and plush decor of the ultra-modern Trump Tower next door.

That is until a visitor reaches the rooftop. What was once a storage spot for spare equipment is now a 3,000-square-foot bustling patio following a nearly $2-million transformation completed more than a year ago. More importantly, it is the jewel in the National Club's crown as it enters its 141st year of existence.

Given the ever-changing demographic of the Bay Street business elite, the demand for memberships to clubs such as the National Club, the Albany Club or the Toronto Club isn't as strong as it once was. The National Club has 1,000 members, down from a high of 1,250 members in 1977-78. Consequently, the need to stay current and relevant, all the while offering members value for money, is of the utmost importance.

"We realized today's business persons are a lot different than they were," says Bill Morari, the National Club's general manager and chief operating officer, and an employee of the club since 1981.

"Literally when I started, I kid you not, they'd come in for the two- or three-martini lunches in the red room downstairs, smoke a cigar, and may or may not go back to the office."

Changing demographics have forced the club to evolve from its 1874 origins as the headquarters for the Canada First Party. Women, who currently make up 15 per cent of the membership, were first admitted as club members in 1992 – female guests were required to enter through a side door before that – and the average age of members has dropped from 62 to 47 over the past 15 years. These days, incoming members are looking for something a little more upbeat than a quiet spot to read a newspaper and quaff a glass of port.

Sean Hoehn, the incoming president of the National Club this June and an equity owner at Cresa Toronto Inc., was one of the driving forces behind the implementation of the patio. Given the way professional companies and law firms are building or demanding their own event spaces as part of any new premises they move into, along with new five-star spaces such as Trump, he says the outdoor event space was crucial to refining the club's appeal in this day and age.

"You have things like the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and other venues that have been popping up in the last five years in the city."

With membership fees ranging from $1,625 to $2,850, increasing with age, to go with an initiation fee that starts at $2,500 and extends up to $8,500, providing members with value for money along with an assortment of socializing options is vital.

While some members use the club exclusively to talk business or as a place to bring clients, others enjoy the social scene, which includes events such as Martini Thursdays, an entrepreneurs' roundtable, and a wine club that now extends to approximately 46,000 bottles. The dress code has been relaxed to allow smart jeans in some lounges, although formal business attire is still required in the main dining room, and taking cellphone calls is verboten virtually throughout, with members self-policing that policy.

The club has also embraced its opportunity as a weekend wedding venue – it is generally open only to members Monday to Friday – and for family events such as Christmas parties which, as Mr. Morari says, would have had "the founders rolling over in their graves knowing that there were kids running all over the place and sitting on Santa's knee." The added income helps to offset the roughly $200,000 annual upkeep costs that the old building incurs.

Sanj Mitra, a lawyer with Aird & Berlis LLP and a member since 1999, says, "There's a book club, that's new, they have a movie night, that's new. I know they've implemented different things, and they did not do them 20 years ago."

Mr. Mitra says the club's location is important to somebody like himself, who mainly uses it to entertain clients. Based at Brookfield Place just down the street, he admits that if it weren't conveniently located, he wouldn't go.

Ironically enough, when the National Club left its original premises at the old Bay Street stock exchange, there were concerns that moving north to the corner of Richmond and Bay Streets would take it out of the downtown core and leave it stranded.

"It really was a thing to move north of King," says noted Toronto historian Bruce Bell.

Now, its location is one of its strengths. The National Club formed an innovation committee last year to ensure that its facilities and offerings are as appealing as possible to the increasingly youthful members.

"Engaging the new and younger folk in the club to see what is relevant to them, I think that's important to give them a say in how you want your club to look like," says Winnie Go, the innovation committee chair and a portfolio manager with ScotiaMcLeod. "I think that's how the club will evolve, by listening to membership."

One of the next steps is to redevelop the games room, which is dominated by two vintage Burroughes & Watts billiards tables, down from the four that used to reside there. The innovations committee is looking at getting rid of one and bringing in a pool table or a poker table.

But while Toronto clubs like the National Club are happy to preserve their aging clubhouses for the present and future, others have taken a different tack.

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1891, decided to move out of its historic four-storey red brick home at the Odd Fellows Temple on 6th Avenue SW.

The chamber relocated in 2012 to a more modern, one-storey facility on 8th Avenue SE, downsizing from about 40,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet and saving what president and CEO Adam Legge estimates to be about $200,000 a year in upkeep and expenses. It also got out of the business of serving food, and instead brings in outside caterers for occasions, such as its breakfast networking or business after-hours events, at company premises or at restaurants like The Keg or Ruth's Chris.

Mr. Legge says the younger generation does not want to be associated with clubs.

Though occasionally some members will talk about the old facility wistfully, the main aim for the chamber has always been to enable networking, and being unencumbered by fewer bricks and mortar has helped them do that, growing from 2,500 members to 4,500 in the past few years.

While the National Club's membership hasn't grown, Mr. Morari says that the addition of the patio last year gave it the lowest rate of membership attrition that it's had in the past five years with the under-40 age group, which makes up 35 per cent of total membership, the fastest-growing group.

"Some of the newer, younger members love the fact that this place has a history and a great heritage to it. They love the fact that we invite royalty here, they love the fact that some of the Fathers of Confederation dined in this place," he says. "For a while that wasn't the case, but I think we're getting back to the history and tradition of the place."