Astor Club, the members-only spot that brought the old Maxim’s supper club back to life in the Gold Coast, is gearing up for a major move up the street. The club is planning a new, daytime-focused clubhouse inside the landmark mansion at 1516 N. Lake Shore Drive, adding lake-view rooms, a marble lobby, and a rooftop deck while hanging on to its original underground supper-club space. For current members and nearby Gold Coast residents, it is a rare combo of white-glove hospitality and bona fide Chicago architectural history under one banner.
Plans and reporting
According to Crain's Chicago Business, Astor Club intends to turn the Lake Shore Drive mansion into a dedicated daytime clubhouse while continuing its existing underground supper-club programming. The move is framed as a way to extend member perks beyond evening dinners and late-night scenes. It also marks the latest step in the club’s fast climb within the Gold Coast’s social circuit.
What the clubhouse will include
On its own site, Astor Club bills the Lake Shore Drive address as a “landmarked Lakefront Gilded-age French Chateau.” The club highlights plans for lake views, a marble lobby and bar, a great room, cafe, library, meeting rooms, overnight suites, and a rooftop deck, with a projected “Fall 2026” debut. The materials describe the mansion as a daytime clubhouse meant to complement the supper-club energy of the original space rather than replace it. Details on membership and media inquiries are laid out on the club’s press page.
Historic mansion at 1516 N. Lake Shore Drive
The house at 1516 N. Lake Shore Drive dates to the 1910s. Chicago magazine reports that the French chateau-style residence was originally built for Edward Tyler Blair and later became home to the International College of Surgeons, with marble staircases and ornate finishes throughout. Real estate listings put the property at roughly 12,000 square feet and note a two-story coach house on-site, all within Chicago’s Lakefront Protection District, according to Compass. Those protections and that pedigree mean any makeover will have to double as a careful preservation project as well as a hospitality build-out.
From Maxim's to a modern members' club
Astor Club first took shape in the low-lit, Art Nouveau dining room inside Astor Tower, in the former Maxim’s de Paris space commonly listed as 24 E. Goethe St. Reviving that storied interior helped set the tone for what the club would become. Coverage from CBS Chicago and others documented the painstaking restoration of the supper club and how heavily the owners lean on Maxim’s legacy. With that vintage backdrop in place, a separate, daylight-focused clubhouse on Lake Shore Drive reads as a logical next chapter rather than a sharp left turn.
What this signals for the Gold Coast
The Lake Shore expansion lands amid a broader surge of member-based neighborhood clubs in Chicago that promise more than just dinner reservations and cocktail hours. Reporting by Block Club Chicago on similar concepts shows operators are increasingly banking on steady membership fees and flexible, all-day spaces to keep the lights on. For Gold Coast locals, an Astor-branded clubhouse on Lake Shore Drive could function as a year-round hangout for members and a new daytime presence on the lakefront.
Timing and next steps
The club’s press page lists the Lake Shore Drive project as “launching Fall 2026” and includes a designated press contact, signaling that Astor is building in a long runway for approvals and restoration work, per Astor Club. With a landmarked building inside the Lakefront Protection District, the renovation and permitting process is likely to draw attention from preservation groups and nearby residents. We will keep an eye on permit filings and neighborhood notices as the plan moves through the city’s review pipeline.
