The Board of Governors
The Princeton Charter Club

Dear Charter Alumni,

Charter has had incredible success, with our Club serving approximately 180 members annually with full waitlists. But this success has opened a window to Charter’s future and revealed several pressing needs.

Our current membership challenges the ability of Charter’s infrastructure to sustain superior dining and social experiences. Due to limited dining space, members regularly dine in the Great Room, Ferguson-Jacobs Room and even on the staircase. Our female members must still trek upstairs to use the restroom. The clubhouse is inaccessible to students and alumni with mobility challenges. The vintage rope-pulley dumbwaiter imposes logistical constraints. And full use of the clubhouse is hindered without an elevator to move people and supplies.

The need to face these challenges is unavoidable. Princeton continues to grow, with 1,500 students in the Class of 2026. Many other eating clubs have already updated their clubhouses in response. The average club now has 170 members, with some clubs exceeding 200 members. Although we don’t assume Charter will follow a similar path, larger memberships amortize the Club’s considerable fixed costs and thus enable Charter’s life-changing experience to remain affordable to students, an increasing proportion of whom rely on financial aid. To ensure Charter’s future, we need to ensure the clubhouse has the capacity to serve the present membership and accommodate growth.

We are therefore undertaking Project 79, the biggest improvement to Charter’s clubhouse in its 110-year history. This project will address the aforementioned challenges of capacity, accessibility, and efficiency while preserving our Club’s timeless design and feel. It is being designed by Ford 3 Architects, a respected local firm with expertise in historic preservation.

We need the support of all our alumni to make Project 79 a reality. As you read this brochure, please consider a generous gift pledge payable over three years. Charter’s members will be grateful for your generosity as they experience an even better version of our great club. Naming opportunities, a commemorative plaque, named paver stones and a Project 79 donor book will cement your Charter legacy.

Please support Project 79 for the future of Charter—allowing future members to enjoy the same experience that our predecessors provided us.

Sincerely,

The Board of Governors, Undergraduate Officers and Club Management
The Princeton Charter Club

The Board of Governors commissioned Ford 3 Architects, a highly-respected firm with expertise in historic buildings, in 2022 to conceptualize and design the needed improvements while maintaining the historic nature of the club. With Prospect Avenue now part of the Princeton Historic District, preservation of Charter’s front elevation is particularly important. The improvements are shown in the clubhouse rendering and updated floor and site plans. A cost of $6.1M is estimated with design and construction.

The clubhouse improvements are:

• Dining capability will be expanded by enclosing the back porch. Routine use of the existing upstairs dining room is impractical, requiring significant capital and increased operating costs.
• A buffet will be added in a new enclosed back terrace accessible from the two dining areas.
• The patio and terraces will be expanded on the first and second floors.
• Women’s and accessible bathrooms will be added to the first and basement floors.
• Pathways will be added for accessibility to the first and basement floors for ADA compliance and member and alumni use from Prospect Avenue and the backyard.
• An automatic dumbwaiter will be added to improve kitchen and dining efficiency.
• An elevator will be added with access between the basement, first, and second floors to provide access to all of the club’s public areas and reduce operating costs by connecting the basement to the main dining room.