In 1884, a group of freshman, members of the
Class of 1888 chose to eat in a private room on the second floor of Dohm’s Restaurant
on Nassau Street across from the campus. In time, this group named themselves “The
Seven Wise Men of Grease,” a reflection of the meals they endured.
In their sophomore year the group moved up Nassau Street to a hotel on the corner of
Railroad Avenue (now University Place) known as The University Hotel. From reports, no
improvement of food was encountered and the group began to look for a more suitable place
to eat. In September of their junior year they found a small house immediately south of
The University Hotel on Railroad Avenue (where Hamilton Hall now stands) owned by the
college and known as The University Cottage. A couple was hired to cook and serve their
meals. The group agreed on the name “The University Cottage Club of Princeton”
popularly known today as “Cottage.”
As time passed, the cottage that gave the Club its name and which seemed so commodious
to its founding members, proved to be inadequate as the Sections grew. In 1890, a lot on
Prospect Street (upon which today’s clubhouse stands) was purchased and a shingled
Victorian clubhouse was built in 1892. The enrollment continued to grow and this structure
was moved to Library Place when plans were made for a larger building. The current two and
a half story Georgian Revival clubhouse was designed by Charles Follem McKim of the New
York architectural firm McKim, Mead and White in 1903 and built in 1906.
The library on the second floor is modeled on the fourteenth century library in Merton
College, Oxford University. Many rooms are paneled in English oak, with carved ceilings
and cornices. Great marble fireplaces grace several areas with mottoes over the mantels.
In the Dining Room, one such carving reads “Ubi Amici Ibidem Sunt Opes”
(“Where there are friends there are riches”) which has become over the years a
motto of the Club. Priding itself on lifelong friendships and camaraderie, the Club
continues to attract some of the finest that Princeton has to offer.
Several noteworthy individuals have been members, including: Edgar Palmer ’03,
Breckenridge Long ’03, John Foster Dulles ’08, Dean Mathey ’12, James
Forrestal ’15, F.Scott Fitzgerald ’17, (he began his novel “This Side of
Paradise” in the UCC library), Livingston T. Merchant ’26, Henry R. Labouisse
’26, Leonard K. Firestone ’33, Jose Ferrer ’35, John N. Irwin ’37,
Nicholas deB. Katzenbach ’43, Gov. Brendan T. Byrne ’49, Richard W. Kazmaier,
Jr. ’52, Sen. Christopher S. Bond ’60, Sen. William W. Bradley ’65, Sen.
William Frist ’74 and Pulitzer Prize winners John McPhee ’53 and A. Scott Berg
’71. Honorary members include: Grover Cleveland, Admiral George Dewey and Woodrow
Wilson. Over the years fifteen members have been Rhodes Scholars.
Women were admitted in 1986.Today, as in the past, the Club’s purpose is not only
to be a gathering place for meals and friendship, but also a sanctuary to study, relax and
enhance the quality of life for its current members, alumni and their guests.
On September 14, 1999 the Club was entered onto the New Jersey Register of Historic
Places. On November 15, 1999 it was added to the National Historic Register of Historic
Places based on the architectural structure of the building, high degree of historic
integrity, and significant cultural contributions to the community. These recognitions
will help to preserve and protect this historic treasure for future generations.
