April 3, 2008 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or Winner of Two |
Commodore Barry Club: 50 years of Irish pride in Mt. Airy
In our Local travels, we have interviewed many interesting people. Once, we even interviewed a cell phone — or, more accurately, the person on the other end. Now, we have interviewed a building, the Commodore Barry Club, 6815 Emlen St., at Carpenter Lane, in West Mt. Airy. The building had nothing to say; it took four interesting and informative surrogates to bring its story forth. According to our initial contact and host, Jim McGill, the Club is officially known as The Society of Commodore John Barry USN, and also as The Irish Center. In addition, said Billy Brennan, historian and librarian, this onetime auto club and catering hall also shelters 10 other Irish-affiliated groups. These include the Philadelphia Ceili (pronounced ‘KAY-lee’) Group. This organization, founded in 1958, preserves traditional Irish music and dance, and, according to Billy, has given its extensive Irish music archives to the Library of Congress. Jim, who also dotes on Irish music, was quick to mention the “huge Ceili Festival covering three days every September” at the Club. Jim, Billy and Sean McMenamin proudly showed us around this somewhat altered but still classical building as our fourth welcomer, Michelle Higgins, busied herself fixing tea, coffee and petits-fours for us. (Thanks, Michelle!) The structure is gigantic. It just seems to keep opening up as you walk from one dining-room-dance-floor-and-bar area to the next, each one larger than the one before. There are two — or is it three, or four? The walls can almost talk, filled as they are with Club certificates, old photos, scenes of Ireland, and related memorabilia. (This is especially true of the second-floor library, with its packed walls and interesting display cases; this is Billy Brennan’s special place). There is also an attractive dining room on the once-open, now-enclosed front porch. At any rate, the centerpiece of the largest space — a ballroom with chandeliers, stage and dance floor — is a rustic mural along the stage’s back wall. It is called Echo of Donegal and was painted by a local artist, Janet McShain. What a perfect backdrop for Irish fiddlers on the stage! Jim tells us that, with 10 Irish groups covering all of the Delaware Valley affiliated with the Center, they often accommodate 800 to 1,000 guests for a single event. Given the spaces we saw, we can believe it. “We’re also available to anyone for wedding receptions and fund-raisers,” Michelle said. “We’ve even had one or two wedding ceremonies here, too, as well as lots of receptions.”
The Irish Center is celebrating its 50th anniversary, which is what got us there in the first place. Although it is a private club, it is open to new members, with most attractive membership rates in honor of the 50th year. It is also open for all sorts of functions. Check out the possibilities on the Internet at www.theirishcenter.com/membership, or call 215-843-8051. The site also contains links to the 10 other Irish-affiliated groups. Depending on whether you use 1951 (the founding date listed on the web site) or 1958 (when the Club members bought the building) as the benchmark, the Club is either 50 or 57 years old — but never mind! The fact is, this year is being celebrated as the 50th anniversary. The rambling structure is of Wissahickon schist, as is so much Chestnut Hill architecture of the period. It is pure guesswork on our part (and on our hosts’ part as well!), but the mix of stonework with an Italianate roofline, pillared porch and Colonial Revival trim would seem to place its construction somewhere early in the 20th century. If the date were 1903, that would make it exactly 100 years after Commodore Barry’s death on Sept. 12, 1803. (More about the Commodore anon.) In those days, the immediate and almost rural neighborhood was known as Pelham. The building’s first occupants were members of the Pelham Auto Club; in the days when only the wealthy owned cars, motoring was viewed as a sport by this plutocracy. As sportsmen (few women drove), they needed a place to meet and swap stories of mechanical derring-do. The Keystone Automobile Club succeeded the Pelham Club, long before it morphed into today’s Keystone/AAA. The building at one time was the first home of the Germantown Jewish Centre (now in quarters nearby on Lincoln Drive), and then was owned by at least one caterer, Ross House Catering, before the Club bought the structure in 1958. In the early days, according to Billy and Jim, the Club drew primarily from the considerable Irish enclaves in East Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy rather than being the Delaware Valley’s lodestar of Irish life, which it has since become. The fact that it is used by so many groups accounts for its relative prosperity. It was not always so. “We had a tough time in 1972,” said Michelle over coffee and pastries. “We nearly had to sell. Our own members were doing everything to save money at events — cooking, serving, bartending. Even the members’ children volunteered to wait tables.” Today, all events are professionally catered. Also at that time, the Club established a continuing tradition of holding benefits and fund-raisers for worthy causes, giving considerable time and money to community-related activities. The Club and its affiliated organizations also began to schedule trips as fund-raisers. Many of these in days past were handled by Mike Concannon of the Hill’s late (and missed) Concannon Travel. This spirit of service forms the ideal connection to the Club’s namesake. Commodore John Barry (1745-1803) is known as the Father of the American Navy. This title was given him by other Navy officers 10 years after his death at age 58. Barry was born in County Wexford, Ireland. He began as a cabin boy and worked his way upward to ship’s captain, adopting Philadelphia as his home port. During the Revolution, he was given command of the USS Lexington, and won 20 naval engagements against the British, including the first capture of a British warship by an American cruiser. After the war, he engaged in commercial shipping, but returned to the Navy to fight the Barbary Pirates. He was named Senior Captain of the Federal Navy and received Commission Number One from President Washington in 1794. Commodore Barry remained head of the Navy until his death in 1803. He is buried in Philadelphia’s Old St. Mary’s churchyard in Old City. As for today, the Commodore Barry Club is a living memorial to all those who, like the Commodore, have come to Philadelphia from Ireland. As the Club historian, Billy Brennan, poignantly expressed it, “Our real community is here now; if we were to go back to Ireland, we wouldn’t feel as much at home as we do here.” ***** The Commodore Barry Club / The Irish Center is at 6815 Emlen St. For more information, call 215-843-8051 or visit www.theirishcenter.com.
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