Club Nacional (Peru)

The National Club (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, 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.

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.

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.

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, 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".

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,. 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.

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 (Peru) 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 ocuppied 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.

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. 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.

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.

Clubhouse
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, 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.

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.

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.

List of presidents
The following list details the members who have held the presidency of the club since its founding in 1855: