Club Nacional (Peru)

National Club

Club Nacional
Headquarters in the Plaza San Martín
Formation	October 19, 1855
Type	Association
Headquarters	Jr. de la Unión 1016, Lima
President	Diego de la Torre de la Piedra
Website	Club Nacional

The National Club (Spanish: Club Nacional) is a private club and civil association based in the Plaza San Martín of the Historic Centre of Lima. Founded on October 19, 1855,^[1] it has been the meeting place for the Peruvian aristocracy throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, as its members are members of the most distinguished and wealthy families in the country.^[2]

Of its kind, it has been considered one of the ten best and most elegant clubs in the world for its facilities, bibliographic heritage and services.^[3]

History

The National Club was founded on October 19, 1855 by 81 members among which were members of the old Peruvian aristocracy as well as prominent foreign merchants. Its first president was Gaspar de la Puente and its first members included among others José Antonio Barrenechea, José Antonio de Lavalle, Ignacio de Osma, Manuel Pardo y Lavalle, José de la Riva-Agüero and José Antonio García y García.^[4]

The club was established based on the English gentlemen's clubs that were founded during the 18th century in London, mainly in the St James's neighborhood known as Clubland,^[5] and grew in popularity throughout Europe during the 19th century. These social centers were frequented by its first president Gaspar de la Puente and contributed to create a reputation to the National Club as the "Old men's Club".^[6]

Its first institutional premises were located in some apartments on the upper floors of the Hotel del Universo on the corner of the Portal de San Agustín with Lártiga St., whose owner was the French citizen Estanislao Courtheoux,.^[7] This hotel was located in the so-called Plazuela del Teatro (named after the Segura Theatre next to it) and was a few blocks from the Palace of Government. In 1859, the club was relocated to one of its members' houses in the Valladolid street and then was moved to the ancestral home of the Counts of Fuente González and Villar de Fuentes (known today as Casa Barbieri) where it occupied the apartments of the upper floor.^[8]

Then, in 1869, the club was moved to its fourth location at the corner of the Portal de Botoneros and Mercaderes St. in the Plaza de Armas, where the Phoenix Club [es] would later be located. In this place, the members of the club were eyewitnesses of the Gutiérrez brothers' attempted coup d'état in 1872 and after the events of the War of the Pacific and the Chilean occupation of Lima. Later, between 1891 and 1895, the club occupied the upper floors of the so-called Casa O'Higgins which was once the house of Bernardo O'Higgins and was owned by De la Riva-Agüero family at the time. The club briefly hosted the members of the Club de la Unión in this location, after the troops of General Andrés Avelino Cáceres assaulted and looted the headquarters of that institution during the events of the Peruvian civil war of 1894-1895.^[9]

In 1895, the club was located in a small palace on Núñez street, owned by Mr. Ernesto Puccio, located within the Cercado de Lima. The move to this location meant a period of consolidation for the club, which materialized in the use of a complete lot for the first time.^[10] Finally, in 1929, it was established in its permanent location in front of the Plaza San Martín, on the foundations of a house that belonged to Guillermo Talleri and that had formerly belonged to the Silva Santisteban family.^[11]

In 1881, considering the economic crisis created by the War with Chile, the president of the young Club de la Unión General César Canevaro proposed the fusion of both clubs under the presidency of the National Club. The plan which effectively had united the two main Peruvian clubs was voted and then rejected by the National Club members.

Distinguished characters from Peruvian republican life have belonged to the National Club, including seventeen presidents of the Republic (including José Pardo and Augusto B. Leguía who served as vicepresidents) and notable figures who took part in the historic events of May 2, 1866, in the naval campaign of 1879, in the trenches of San Juan and Miraflores, and in the battle of Huamachuco. Likewise, the club was the main meeting place for the twenty-four friends, an oligarchy group belonging to the Civilista Party that led the country during a historical period known as the Aristocratic Republic.^[12]

Clubhouse

National Club
General information
Architectural style	Beaux-Arts
Location	Plaza San Martín
Address	Jr. de la Unión 1016
Completed	1929
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Ricardo de Jaxa Malachowski

The current premises of the club were built next to the Teatro Colón and on the site of a small square called the Plaza de la Micheo located between the old streets of Belén and Iturrizaga,^[13] whose land today forms part of Plaza San Martín, one of the main squares of the historic centre of Lima inaugurated by President Augusto B. Leguía in 1921 during the celebrations for the Centennial of the Independence of Peru.^[14]

The design and plans were entrusted to the Polish architect Ricardo de Jaxa Malachowski and the engineer Enrique Bianchi. In the first stage of construction of the building, the New York-based firm The Foundation Company intervened and later the administration of the work was assumed directly by the architect Malachowski, which was completed in 1929. The engineer Bianchi, one of the promoters of the project, passed away before seeing it finished.

The French academic-style building is currently located in front of Plaza San Martín, on the west side at the corner of the Portal de Zela with the Jirón de la Unión. Due to its architectural value, it has been declared a historical monument as part of the Cultural Heritage of the Nation.^[15]

In front of this place, the director of the newspaper El Comercio, Antonio Miró Quesada de la Guerra, was murdered in 1935 together with his wife María Laos Argüelles by a young Aprista, when they were both walking from the Hotel Bolívar to have lunch at the club.^[16]

List of presidents

The following list details the members who have held the presidency of the club since its founding in 1855:^[17]

President Period Gaspar de la Puente y Remírez de Laredo 1855-1860 José Antonio Barrenechea y Morales [es] 1860-1863 Enrique de Armero Campos 1863-1866 Francisco Rosas Balcázar [es] 1866-1870 Miceno Espantoso y Oramas 1870-1874 Dionisio Derteano y Echenique [es] 1875-1876 Ignacio de Osma y Ramírez de Arellano [es] 1876-1879 Dionisio Derteano y Echenique 1884-1888 Rafael Canevaro y Valega 1888-1890 Ignacio de Osma y Ramírez de Arellano 1890-1893 Enrique Barreda y Osma [es] 1893-1896 Ricardo Ortiz de Zevallos y Tagle [es] 1896-1897 Manuel María Gálvez Egúsquiza 1897-1899 Luis Bryce de Vivero [es] 1899-1901 Manuel Yrigoyen Arias 1901-1902 Pedro Gallagher Robertson 1902-1905 Felipe Pardo y Barreda [es] 1905-1906 Domingo Olavegoya Yriarte 1906 Juan Pardo y Barreda [es] 1906-1908 Mariano Ignacio Prado Ugarteche [es] 1909-1912 Amador del Solar Cárdenas [es] 1912-1913 Luis Pardo y Barreda 1913-1915 Mariano Ignacio Prado Ugarteche 1915-1917 Ántero Aspíllaga Barrera [es] 1917-1919 Manuel Vicente Villarán Godoy [es] 1919-1921 Pedro de Osma y Pardo [es] 1921-1922 Felipe de Osma y Pardo [es] 1922-1924 Antonio Graña de los Reyes 1924-1927 Lizardo Alzamora Mayo [es] 1927-1928 Carlos Zavala Loayza [es] 1927-1929 Demetrio Olavegoya Marriot 1929-1931 Luis Rey Melgar 1930-1931 Manuel Yrigoyen Diez Canseco 1931-1933 Augusto Wiese Eslava [es] 1933-1934

President Period Carlos Zavala Loayza 1934-1936 Carlos Palacios Villacampa 1936-1938 Francisco Echenique y Bryce [es] 1938-1940 Hernando de Lavalle y García [es] 1940-1942 Manuel Gallagher Canaval [es] 1942-1944 Héctor García y Lastres 1944-1946 Luis Gallo Porras 1946-1948 Waldemar Schröder y Mendoza 1948-1950 Daniel Olaechea y Olaechea [es] 1950-1952 José Quesada Larrea [es] 1952-1954 Miguel Mujica Gallo [es] 1954-1957 Alberto Quesada Larrea 1957-1959 José Bentín Mujica 1959-1961 Armando Revoredo Iglesias [es] 1961-1963 Antonio Graña Garland 1963 Felipe de Osma y Porras 1963-1965 Miguel Mujica Gallo 1965-1967 Diomedes Arias Schreiber del Busto 1967-1969 Armando Revoredo Iglesias 1969-1971 Miguel Mujica Gallo 1971-1974 César Barrios Canevaro 1974-1976 Víctor Aspíllaga Delgado 1976-1978 Fernando Carrillo de Albornoz Barúa 1978-1980 Miguel Mujica Gallo 1979-1981 Augusto Felipe Wiese de Osma [es] 1981-1984 César Aramburú Raygada 1984-1986 Eduardo Freundt Dalmau 1986-1987 Felipe de Osma Elías 1987-1988 Fernando Ortiz de Zevallos Basadre 1988-1990 Jaime García Ribeyro Dañino 1990-1992 Francisco Moreyra García 1992-1994 Óscar Berckemeyer Pérez-Hidalgo 1994-1996 César del Río Málaga 1996-1998 Mario Brescia Cafferata 2000-2002

See also

• History of Peru (1895–1919), a period known as the Aristocratic Republic in Peruvian historiography.
• Historic Centre of Lima
• Plaza San Martín, Lima

References

1. "Así ocurrió: En 1855 se funda en Lima el Club Nacional". El Comercio. 2014-10-19.
2. Del Águila Peralta, Alicia (1997). Callejones y mansiones. Espacios de opinión pública y redes sociales y políticas en la Lima del 900 (PDF) (in Spanish). Lima: PUCP. p. 80.
3. Gooding, Judson (1969). "Havens of good living "For members only"". Fortune Magazine: 127.
4. Rizo Patrón Boylan, Paul (2004). McEvoy, Carmen (ed.). Del aguardiente al champagne. La aristocratización de la burguesía peruana en el siglo XIX (in Spanish). Madrid. pp. 40–41. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
5. Graves, Charles (1963). Leather armchairs. The Chivas Regal book of London clubs. London: Cassell. pp. XV.
6. Mücke, Ulrich (2010). Política y burguesía en el Perú. El Partido Civil antes de la Guerra con Chile (in Spanish). Lima: Institut français d’études andines. p. 95.
7. Fuentes, Manuel Atanasio (1860). Guía histórico-descriptiva administrativa, judicial y de domicilio de Lima (in Spanish). Librería Central. p. 229.
8. Lohmann Luca de Tena, Juan Guillermo (2022). Las calles de la Ciudad de los Reyes (in Spanish). Lima: Fondo Editorial del Congreso del Perú. p. 437.
9. Martínez, Pedro Pablo (1965). El Club de la Unión a través de su historia (sus dos épocas) (in Spanish). Lima: Club de la Unión. p. 31.
10. Guerrero Ramírez, Silvia (2020). Don Esteban y su tiempo. Biografía documentada del doctor Esteban Campodónico Figallo (1866-1938) (in Spanish). Lima: Universidad de Piura. p. 268.
11. Barrón Mifflin, Josefina (2016). Mar y fuego: Augusto Felipe Wiese de Osma (in Spanish). Lima. p. 117.
12. De la Puente Candamo, José Agustín (2008). El Perú desde la intimidad. Epistolario de Manuel Candamo (1873-1904) (in Spanish). Lima. p. 48.
13. Bromley Seminario, Juan (2019). Las viejas calles de Lima (PDF) (in Spanish). Lima: Metropolitan Municipality of Lima. p. 57. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-08-11. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
14. Orrego Penagos, Juan Luis (2014). ¡Y llegó el Centenario! Los festejos de 1921 y 1924 en la Lima de Augusto B. Leguía (in Spanish). Lima: PUCP. p. 129.
15. Relación de Monumentos Históricos del Perú (PDF) (in Spanish). Lima: Instituto Nacional de Cultura. 1999. p. 74.
16. Delgado, Luis Humberto (1935). Historia de Antonio Miró Quesada, 1875-1935 (in Spanish). Vol. 4. Lima: American Express. p. 33.
17. Club Nacional, 1855-1995 (in Spanish). Lima: Club Nacional. 1996. pp. 18–28.

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