The Rainier Club · Platinum Clubs of America 2027

Criterion One · Universal Recognition

The room Seattle has met in since 1888

Before Washington was a state, the city's founders built a club. The Rainier Club has been the meeting place of Seattle's civic, business, and creative life for 138 years, from the same address for the last 122.

National Register of Historic Places, listed 1976.
City of Seattle Landmark, designated 1987.
Kirtland Cutter clubhouse, designed 1903, Jacobean style, occupied since 1904.
Oldest private club in Seattle, founded 1888, the year before statehood.
A civic institution since its founding: philanthropic partnerships with the Ballard Food Bank, the YMCA of Greater Seattle and its Young Adults in Transition program, and Seattle's Union Gospel Mission.
Engaged in the life of the city: community partnerships with Ridwell, which piloted a first-of-its-kind commercial recycling program, the Downtown Seattle Association, and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

Historic photograph of the Rainier Club's brick clubhouse

A newspaper feature on the Club's diamond anniversary and the first 1888 clubhouse

From the Club's archives.

Criterion Two · Excellence in Amenities & Facilities

A full home under one roof,
and a network beyond it

The Club caters to a Member's dining, business, wellness, and travel life without leaving Fourth Avenue, and extends the same standard of service to visiting members of clubs around the world.

Heritage Dining Room and Beller Bar, the Club's two signature dining venues, with a seasonal menu that changes every 8–10 weeks.
Reciprocal access to a 377-club network through the Club's Palmer Advantage partnership, curated against the Platinum Clubs criteria and expanding across Canada.
Ten private event and dining rooms, seating from 8 to 250.
A wine cellar of 1,174 bottles across 213 labels. Pacific Northwest icons like Quilceda Creek, Leonetti, Figgins, and Betz sit alongside Old World labels from France, Italy, and Spain, with a by-the-glass program matched to the seasonal menu and temperature-controlled Member wine lockers.
A full fitness and wellness center with Olympic free weights, Life Fitness strength and circuit equipment, treadmills, Cybex Arc trainers, rowers, and Peloton and Expresso cycles, plus personal training, Pilates, and massage from a long-tenured wellness team.
Three dedicated coworking spaces throughout the building, plus two complimentary Zoom rooms for Member and committee use, for the working Member's day.
Seven overnight guest rooms for Members and their guests.
Lobby reimagination, bringing the concierge welcome to the front door.

A seasonal dish from the Club's summer menu

A classic car and members outside the clubhouse at the Club's auto show

Criterion Three · Caliber of Staff & Professional Service

Service written down, trained in, and delivered

One standard of service runs through every venue in the Club, set in writing and built into weekly training.

A Steps of Service manual, written in the American style, sets a single service standard across the Club's dining venues.
Beller Bar Service Training: a four-week structured program, delivered weekly, building bar and hospitality craft across the front-of-house team.
A Food & Beverage Service Standards chapter and a seasonal menu give the training something specific to be trained on.
A team that stays: tenure here reaches as far as thirty-five years, with a strong core of the full-time team a decade or more in, a continuity Members feel in every visit.
An employer worth staying with: a 401(k) with a 6% match, fully vested after one year; full medical, dental, and vision; subsidized transit or parking; staff meals and paid breaks; an annual holiday gift from the Membership; and two maintenance closures a year.
Professional credentials across the team: an MBA and dual CHA / CHAE hospitality accreditation, and a Master's in Exercise Science.

A member of the Club's service team at work during an event

Club Leadership

Jim Campbell, General Manager
BS, Hotel, Restaurant & Institutional Management, Drexel University
Philip Ireland, Chief Reimagination Officer
BA, Simon Fraser University; B.Ed, University of Western Ontario
Kari Cassidy-Diercks, Director of Membership
Krista Cook, Senior Events Manager
BA, Business Administration, Washington State University
Rachel Anderson, Executive Chef
Culinary Arts, Art Institute of Seattle; BA, University of Puget Sound
Nhu Dieu, Executive Sous Chef
Hospitality Management & Culinary Arts, South Seattle College
Garrett Boyd, Banquet Manager
Grand Canyon University
Howard Cohen, Controller
MBA, University of Washington; CHA, CHAE; Past District Governor, Rotary International
Greg Faulkner, Health Club Services Manager
Master's in Exercise Science, University of Washington; 35-year team member

Health & Wellness Team

Karen Black, Pilates
22 years' experience; certified by Pilates, Inc. (New York), with advanced training from Bastyr University; formerly of the Milwaukee Ballet and the Hartford Ballet
Margi Walker, Personal Training
Physical Education, Bastyr University
Shaping Yin, Massage Therapy
Ashmead College; 20 years' experience

The RC Way

Vision

Think exclusive, be inclusive.

Mission

Personalized service through an innate love for hospitality.

Values

Community, Excellence, Stewardship, Tradition, Civility.

Criterion Four · Engagement & Commitment of Membership

A membership that shapes the culture and carries it forward

Engagement at the Rainier Club is active and self-renewing. Members set the tone, sustain the traditions that fill the calendar, and personally introduce the next generation of Members.

A member in an elegant gown descending the clubhouse staircase

Membership begins with a Member: relationship-based introduction remains the Club's most successful source of new Members.
Brand Ambassadors Program: a select group of highly engaged Members, working from a seven-pillar framework built on the Platinum Clubs of America criteria, who host qualified prospects and carry every introduction through to membership.
Keepers of the Keys: a tiered program honoring the Members who bring others in, with dining privileges and annual recognition within the Club.
A committed, multi-generational membership: roughly 499 full-member-equivalents, including 380 resident, 124 non-resident, and 56 Members under 40, anchored by 23 Life Members of fifty-plus years' standing and a Fellows & Laureates category of regionally and nationally recognized artists.
Time-honored traditions: Robert Burns Night, Lunar New Year, the Classic Car Show, the Summer Sunset Sail, the Club Laureate Dinner, Gothic Halloween, and the holiday "Tom & Jerry" Member Appreciation Party, among many more across the year.
250+ Member events hosted every year.
Twenty-one committees: ten standing (Finance, Audit, House, Membership, Governance, DEI, and more) and eleven social (Wine, Literary, Arts, Scotch & Spirits, Public & Global Affairs, and beyond).

Lisa Mayfield, Member since 2011 and Past President

"I can't say enough about the Rainier Club and the important role it fills in the Seattle community. While it is a beautiful historic landmark, its true value lies in the people and the sense of connection it creates. Since joining the Club, I have experienced it as a place where members come to learn, build meaningful relationships, exchange ideas, and find respite from the demands of daily life. The Rainier Club is a rare institution that successfully blends tradition, community, and purpose, making it one of Seattle's most treasured gathering places."

Lisa Mayfield · Member since 2011 · Past President

Criterion Five · Governance & Prudent Fiscal Management

A Board that plans in years and reviews in months

The Board of Trustees governs to a strategic plan with dated decision gates, reviewed monthly against a published scorecard, with capital committed to the clubhouse and its second century.

$285–400K

Capital enhancements budgeted for the clubhouse

FY 2028–29

Strategic plan horizon, adopted by the Board July 2026

Monthly

Board review against a published scorecard

Strategic plan adopted by the Board of Trustees, July 2026, spanning governance, membership, operations, brand, and capital through FY 2028–29.
A Historic Foundation preservation strategy, advancement, and legacy-giving program secure the landmark clubhouse for the next generation.
Governance structure: a Board of Trustees and an RC Council, supported by ten standing committees and eleven social committees.

Criterion Six · Adapting to Changing Times

A 138-year-old club in its most active year

The Club calls it the Reimagination: a multi-year renewal of dining, service, membership, brand, and the building itself, moving from delivered to underway to ahead.

Delivered

Steps of Service manual, in use across venues
Member Test Menu, rating dishes before adoption
Beller Bar four-week training program
Complete Brand Guidelines governing every placement
Member app & digital services

Underway

Lobby reimagination
New reading room, a benefactor-funded update arriving 2027
New membership paths: an arts category with audition and portfolio review, second-member, family, and gift of membership
A Group Membership pilot for organizations enrolling five or more, with consolidated billing and flexibility as teams change

Ahead

Member library and programming-capture pilot
Historic Foundation and legacy-giving program
Later-programming pilot and concierge service model

History United

In September 2026, the Rainier Club, founded 1888, enters an affiliate partnership with the Rainier Golf & Country Club, founded 1920, uniting two of the region's most historic private institutions and extending golf privileges to Members.

Criterion Seven · Overall Experience

What a year here adds up to

54,102

Food & beverage covers served last year

250+

Member events hosted annually

1,129

Overnight guest-room stays last year

1,800

Covers served al fresco in the historic Auto Court each summer

The historic brick clubhouse entrance on Fourth Avenue with the Club's crests

The carved Club 504 door medallion at The Rainier Club

"This club wins with its ideal location, exceptional facilities, kind staff, and a wealth of amenities. Their inclusivity comes across with diverse leadership and an approachability that screams success."

Y.D. · 2025

"A beautiful, historic, and iconic private club."

J.M. · 2024

"The Rainier Club is the kind of place that makes you lower your voice the moment you walk in. The building is beautifully classic, understated, yet quietly impressive."

Y. · 2026

Where else but The Rainier Club?