MONTREAL — After 130 years, the Montefiore Club, once the exclusive preserve of generations of the Montreal Jewish establishment, has closed its doors because of insufficient membership and financial problems.
The private club has sold its home since 1906, a three-storey Victorian greystone on Guy Street, to Concordia University, which will take over the building Sept. 15, said club accountant Craig Gordon.
Just 72 members were paying full fees at the end, down from more than 600 in the early 1990s, he said, and the club, which had eaten through its reserves, was running a deficit of about $25,000 a month.
The annual operating budget was about $750,000, he said, and revenues came nowhere near to covering that. Full fees were about $2,000, among the lowest of private clubs in the city, he said.
The proceeds from the sale, after costs and staff severances, is expected to be about $1.5 million, which will be donated to the Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal for Jewish education and to Concordia for a Jewish studies endowment, he said.
The building’s contents, which includes artworks, are to be auctioned off later this month to members, and possibly to the public afterward if anything remains, he said.
The club’s considerable archives are being donated to the Jewish Public Library.
The Montefiore’s membership has been declining for years, and a variety of attempts to reverse that trend did not succeed. In the mid-1990s the place underwent a half-million-dollar renovation, he said, which brought in about a 100 new people, but perhaps only a quarter stayed on.
“It’s sad, but it was not unexpected,” he said, who has worked for the club since 1997.
Gordon noted that members were aging, and few of their children were interested in joining. The recent economic downturn also took a final toll.
The club traditionally guarded its privacy zealously, but five years ago, on its 125th anniversary, it opened its doors a crack to reveal that it was struggling, but still optimistic that it had a future. It was trying to modernize its image and services to attract a new and younger clientele.
Fees were reduced, women admitted as full members, the menu in its spacious dining room updated and the dress code relaxed. New activities such as luncheon speakers, wine workshops and family programs were introduced.
The club was never kosher and was open seven days a week, but a recent innovation was packaged kosher meals available at all times.
But as Gordon observed, in a city with 5,000 restaurants, food and beverage services was not enough to bring people in.
For many years, the club rented out its facilities and countless community events have taken place there. In the past few years, the building has been used frequently by nearby Concordia, mostly for social events.
The Montefiore was not originally a plush hangout for gentlemen of a certain age and means to play cards and smoke cigars. It was founded as a social club for young Jewish people in 1880 by 11 fellows ranging in age from 15 to 23.
The club was named after Sir Moses Montefiore, a leading British Jewish philanthropist of the day. The story goes that he was so touched when the young club members wrote and asked permission to use his name that he sent not only his blessing but a 10-pound note, a copy of which was on display in the club entrance to the present day.
The club had three downtown addresses before moving into its premises of the last 104 years at 1195 Guy St., a discreet location with only its green canopy signalling its presence on the block.
The Montefiore suffered the fate of many private clubs throughout North America in recent times. Younger generations have been less class conscious, and an exclusive club membership does not have the cachet it once did.
As a Jewish club in Montreal, the Montefiore had additional challenges. The community was not growing, many of the old families are not here anymore, and Jews can belong to just about any club nowadays.
Retired senator Leo Kolber, a longtime intimate of the Bronfman family who came from comparatively modest means, recalled that when he went to work for Seagram’s just out of college in 1957, Sam Bronfman told him he must join the Montefiore.
Kolber applied and was told he would have to wait a year because of a waiting list. (New members had to be sponsored by existing ones.) Bronfman offered to phone and get him in the next day, but Kolber insisted on being admitted on his own merit. It took 1-1/2 years.
“Within the walls of the Montefiore Club, many monumental decisions were made that strengthened the Montreal Jewish community, as well as many lifetime friendships were made,” Kolber said
Among these historic moments was the founding of the forerunner of Federation CJA in 1915 and the planning of the Jewish General Hospital, which opened in 1934.
Kolber remembered that during the Six Day War, Sam Bronfman and Sam Steinberg convened a gathering of Canadian Jewish leaders at the Montefiore and, in one afternoon, raised $13 million to help Israel.
