(Photo: Lew Robertson/Getty Images)

The imposition of an ersatz version of the boozy for-profit London club system on New York continues. Inspired by the success of Soho House, Alan Linn, an ex-manager of the infamously rowdy English club Blacks, and partner Steve Ruggi are vetting applications to something called Norwood, set to open this summer in a townhouse on 14th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. According to its promo material, Norwood is looking for tweedier and artsier types (not so Eurotrashy as Soho House) to enjoy their fireplaces, cell-phone ban, lobster Newburg, and baked Alaska. “Membership criteria are not based on fame or wealth,” the material insists, “but by talent.” Although it is supposed to be named after the guy who built the house, its name is also the same as that of “a distinctly unsalubrious, unsexy suburb of London,” notes i-banker Euan Rellie, a Soho House committee member and an ex-member of Blacks. Still, Rellie sees Norwood as a good bet: “Whatever you want to say about Soho House, it’s been a huge commercial success.”

For a sneak peek inside Norwood, read Daily Intel.

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Geoffrey Gray
• Table of Contents: Apr 30, 2007 issue of New York | Subscribe!