It’s not your grandfather’s Harvard Club.
Then again…he’d probably enjoy it, too. As Boston’s Financial District expanded in the 1940’s, demand grew for a second location where Harvard Club members could host business lunches and dinners. Beginning in 1954, the late, great Purcell’s Restaurant opened a “Harvard Banquet Room,” which moved to a second location in 1967, serving as the first “Downtown Harvard Club of Boston.” The growing popularity of this venue inspired then-Harvard Club President Stanley Miller ’52 to open the current Downtown Harvard Club when his late, great Shawmut Bank opened its new corporate headquarters at One Federal Street in 1976.
Today, the Downtown Club offers fine dining, fabulous functions, and memorable member events high atop Boston’s ever-changing urban landscape. And, since 2004, the Downtown Club has been home to members from our ever-growing family of partner schools – colleges and universities whose alumni are welcome to join the Downtown Club and partake of our legendary hospitality, vitality, and camaraderie.
