37.7892, −122.4111 A locator map appears here once a Mapbox token is configured.
Know This Place

District 3 · Block 0283, Lot 022 · ZIP 94102

Women's Athletic Club of San Francisco

640–650 Sutter Street · Nob Hill

  • 6 stories
  • 101,662 ft2
  • 18,906 ft2 lot area
  • 108 rooms
  • 59 bathrooms
  • Zoned C3G
  • Historic resource
  • Individually listed on the National Register
Land$1,014,963
Improvements$1,413,512
Total assessed$2,428,475
37.7892, −122.4111 Street View appears here once a Google Maps embed key is configured.
  1. 1916

    Built.

  2. 1916

    The Women's Athletic Club of San Francisco, designed by William B. Faville.

    Architecture, Planning & Preservation Professionals: A Collection of Biographies, adopted 2021
  3. February 4, 1917

    The Woman's Athletic Club opened its clubhouse, the first women's athletic club west of Chicago: a steel-framed brick building with a swimming pool filled with sea water pumped from Ocean Beach, a tennis court under the roof, hotel rooms and dining rooms, completed for $160,000 to designs by Bliss & Faville. Construction had begun around the turn of 1916, and the club had a thousand members by the opening.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
  4. 1922

    Expanded, six years after it was built for the Woman's Athletic Club of San Francisco. The club is now the Metropolitan Club.

    Citywide Historic Context Statement: Clubs and Social Halls (1848–1989), 2026
  5. December 26, 1923

    Reopened after doubling in size: a reinforced concrete west wing by Bliss & Faville, built by MacDonald & Kahn from September 1922, joined to the original behind a single Florentine palazzo front of red brick, terra cotta and a tiled roof, with a bridge between the two wings for the Persian Room. It made the club the largest women's athletic club in the country.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
  6. December 15, 1938

    A lounge opened on the ground floor in the old cloakroom and strangers' room, part of a refurbishment ahead of the Golden Gate International Exposition; it is now the library.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
  7. December 6, 1966

    The club took the name Metropolitan Club, after its original fifty-year incorporation had run out.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
  8. May 1983
    Permit 8304326 $$$ $3,500

    Additions alterations or repairs.

  9. May 1983
    Permit 8304527 $$$ $420,000

    Additions alterations or repairs.

  10. Jul 1987
    Permit 8710006 $$$ $95,000

    Construct shower rooms, 1st floor, new walls, ceilings, tile.

  11. Apr 1989
    Permit 8906527 $$$ $250,000

    Interior remodel upgrade of athletic facilities.

  12. May 1989
    Permit 8908892 $$$ $35,000

    Extend fire sprinkler system.

  13. Jun 2003
    Permit 200306167180 $$$ $16,000

    Reroofing.

  14. September 10, 2004

    Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the first women's athletic club west of Chicago and, after 1923, the largest in the country — the catalyst for a women's club district downtown after suffrage — and for Bliss & Faville's Florentine palazzo design.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
  15. Aug 2006
    Permit 200608179733 $$$ $6,500,000

    Voluntary seismic strengthening. life safety and programmatic upgrades, at basement, 1st & 2nd levels, new exit stair from basement to roof, fire rating of exposed structure of steel at property line. phase 1 seismic. phase 2 under separate permit.

  16. Apr 2008
    Permit 200804109303 $$$ $89,750

    Install fire sprinkler, t.i. - total 359 sprinkler heads.

  17. May 2008
    Filed Permit 200805131959 $$$ $25,000

    Partial building fire alarm upgrade-expand existing fire alarm control panel, add or replace the following: 20 smoke detectors, 1 heat detector, 12 duct smoke detectors, 15 manual pull stations, 8 magnetic door holders, 14 relays, 1 monitor module, 1 strobe power supply, 57 horn/strobes, 27 strobes, monitor.

  18. Jul 2008
    Permit 200807217113 $$$ $150,000

    Ref. appl#200608179733, new design-build central stairs serving basement, first fl, second fl. plans include structural steel framing & calcs serving this portion of work. (separate plans will be submitted for stairs serving third fl to roof level.).

  19. Aug 2008
    Permit 200808088788 $$$ $30,000

    Fire alarm system modifications, phase 1 1 annunciator, 14 relays, 1 monitor module, 17 smoke detectors, 1 heat detector, 12 duct detectors, 15 manual pull stations, 8 magnetic door holders, 1 power booster (strobe panel) 60 horn/strobes, 27 strobes. fire alarm constrol panel is existing.

  20. Oct 2008
    Permit 200810214711 $$$ $225,000

    This permit is in reference to approved permit app #200608179733. supply and install new pre fabricated central stairs from 3rd floor to roof level. shop drawings by steel fabricator, glacier iron works, include structural steel framing and calcs. see letter attached rom both the architect of record.

  21. Jun 2009
    Permit 200906221000 $$$ $30,000

    Reroofing.

  22. Jul 2017
    Permit 201707111517 $$$ $75,000

    Spa renovation new shape, tiles, and new steps. new led & low voltage light.

  23. Dec 2019
    Permit 201912129364 $$$ $26,000

    Tapestry room skim coat walls, paint walls, wallpaper certain walls. replace broken glass in (2) existing window.

  24. Sep 2023
    Permit 202309287571 $$$ $158,175

    Reroofing. crrc=0668-0146 sr1=.88.

DBI holds 43 permits for this parcel, most of them tenant improvements on individual floors. The timeline shows the 24 largest by stated cost, plus the earliest on file; the DBI query in the sources below returns all 43. 7 of them are nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits. 8 expired or cancelled permits are not shown.

Nearby