Century of history: How a Belmont country club became a church

The grand ballroom that once hosted country club galas now echoes with Sunday hymns as the Belmont building now home to the Congregational Church of the Peninsula reaches the century mark.

The building has always been a part of the city’s history as it was constructed just before it incorporated.

“It remains important in Belmont’s local history mostly because it precedes Belmont,” Micki Carter , chair of the Centennial Committee, said. “Belmont did not become a city until 1926.”

What was once the Belle Monti Country Club ballroom now serves as the church’s sanctuary, a space that still carries a nod to its past with sconces shaped like crossed golf clubs. The former dining room has become a social hall, while the lower level, which was once lined with showers and dressing rooms, was c