More than 100 years after its founding, the Klifa Club is closing its doors and gifting its historic home at 342 Pearl Street in Burlington to the Vermont Community Foundation to establish the Klifa Club Fund for the advancement and wellbeing of Vermont women and children.
The Klifa Club formed in 1900 with the express purpose of ‘mutual improvement of its members in literature, art, science, and the vital and social interests of the day.’ The house at 342 Pearl Street has been the Klifa Club’s home for over 90 years, hosting invited speakers and afternoon tea for its members.
As new membership declined in recent years, existing members considered dissolving the Klifa Club and discussed options for a charitable gift that would leave a lasting impact on their community. They chose to donate the house and its contents to the Community Foundation, which will use the proceeds from its sale to establish a charitable fund in the Klifa Club’s name.
‘The Klifa Ladies are pleased to have this opportunity to bequeath funds in their community that will support women and children,’ says Klifa Club president Christine Powell. ‘This mission has been a component of the Klifa Club for well over 100 years.’
‘We are thrilled and honored to be partners with the Klifa Club in this way,’ says the Vermont Community Foundation’s president and CEO Stuart Comstock-Gay. ‘The club has done much good for Vermont already. This fund is a wonderful example of a creative gift that will ensure that the generosity of Klifa’s members continues for generations to come.’
The new Klifa Club Fund will be housed at the Community Foundation and the Klifa Club’s members will serve as an advisory committee to make grants from the fund. The fund will focus on projects that support Vermontorganizations serving the economic, educational, housing, health, and social welfare of Vermont women and their families.
The Klifa ladies’ decision to gift 342 Pearl Street reconnects with the charitable nature of the early years of the Klifa Club. In 1914, Klifa members helped persuade the Vermont legislature to adopt a nine-hour labor law for Vermont women and children, as well as raised awareness for children’s health issues in public schools. During World War Two, the Klifa Club partnered with the American Red Cross and offered their home for classes in first aid, nutrition, and home nursing.
The Klifa Club’s elegant brick Colonial home was originally built in 1800 by leather merchant Horance Loomis, whose family was at the center of Burlington social life throughout the 19th century. Over the years, the house has hosted dignitaries such as Henry Clay and President William Henry Harrison. The Klifa Club purchased the house in 1924 and has used it as its headquarters ever since. ‘The Georgian architecture has remained unchanged over the years,’ says Powell. ‘When you step inside the Klifa Club house you can feel the presence of the elegant lifestyle of the time.’
Lang McLaughry Spera is handling the sale of the house, which is now on the market for $699,000.
Source: The Vermont Community Foundation