In the 1930's this bastion of American clubmanship had over one thousand members. This did not include any women, however, as they were admitted only on "Ladies Night"-once a year. The club building was completed in 1924 by the firm of the American architect, R.A.Curry; the drawings were by a newly arrived assistant, one Ladislaus Hudec. The building was made of bricks imported from America, and it was heralded as one of the few buildings in Shanghai in the "American Georgian colonial" style.

The club building contained offices of the American Chamber of Commerce and LsSalle Extension University. In addition there were fifty bachelor bedrooms and two dining rooms for its members, who could also enjoy such amenities as a bar which took up one half of the ground floor and a billiards room which took up the other. There was also a card room, a Mah Jong room, a writing room, a library, and a bowling alley in the basement, beneath the curving staircase pictured here.

The bowling alley has now been turned into a restaurant and karaoke bar, run by the building's current owners, the Shanghai High People's Court. The curving staircase still leads up to a lovely, long lobby, where the caretaker's children now lounge.