Answer: The Sedgeley Club

Sitting at #15 Boathouse Row, along the banks of the Schuylkill River, is the Sedgeley Club. The club was originally formed in 1880s as the Bicycle, Barge, and Canoe Club (purportedly the first such club in the U. S.), and it was headed by Margaret Longstreth Corlies. Corlies sought for her female crew of cyclers and boaters, a place of respite after their athletics. For a time, the club was housed on the Row next door at #14, The Philadelphia Skating Club. But the group needed a place of its own.

The Bicycle, Barge, and Canoe Club undertook a major fundraising campaign for the construction of an additional house in the all-male “neighborhood.” They were eventually granted permission to do so. They hired architect Arthur Brioche, and their building at #15 Boathouse Row was completed in 1903. The club remains an active social organization to this day.

This particular clubhouse bears the distinction of having the city’s only operating light house, Turtle Rock, which was incorporated into the design of the house.

At HSP is a small group of Sedgeley Club records (#3710) that consists of correspondence, directories, insurance papers, minutes, newsletters, rental information, and other administrative files.