The Century Club of California was founded in 1888 as a private women's club. This club house, designed by member Julia Morgan, survived the 1906 Earthquake and Fire and temporarily housed the California State Supreme Court.

This building would have been one of Julia Morgan's first commissions after she graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1902 and set up her practice in San Francisco in 1904. In 1905, she would receive a commission from the Fairmont Hotel.