The entrance is sandwiched between Metropolitan Commercial Bank and Ramaz Lower School across from Fresh&Co. 86th Street + Lexington is the closest subway stop. The club is located on the second floor above the bank and features workspaces, a kitchen, and a library.
Maison may expand in the future, but for now, Wu told me, it's focusing on its Upper East Side location.
"Maison" means "home" in French.
"I needed a place to regain my balance and to reconnect with the part of myself that wasn't a mother, wife, or caregiver," Wu writes on Maison's website. "I looked around my neighborhood and couldn't find a place that addressed the desires and needs of people like me, so I created one myself."
Wu settled on the name because she wanted the club to feel like your best friend's home. "There's no better feeling than walking into your best friend's apartment and grabbing your own cup of coffee and talking along the way and setting yourself up for lunch," she told me.
This detail separates Maison from more traditional women's coworking spaces like The Wing, she added.
In designing the space, Wu said she wanted it to feel "approachable."
The space is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday; on the weekends, it's open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Members come in throughout the day.
The earth-toned space is refined, airy, and flooded with natural light. Wu considers the space one of the biggest perks of membership.
"The thing I hear a lot from our members is that as soon as they walk in the door, they immediately feel calmer. I think that for New Yorkers, and especially women, mothers, and people who just have completely overscheduled complex lives, knowing that you have a place to go where you immediately feel that sense of calm and peace and a warmth and comfortableness— we don't get that [in] very many other places."
General Manager Bay Hirschfeld told me that Maison's selection of beverages and pre-made meals is seasonal and that they place an emphasis on healthy and locally sourced options. Outside food and beverages are not permitted in the club.
While no members were there during my tour, it didn't strike me as a place where people are typing away on their laptops.
Wu confirmed my hunch. The space is "agenda-less," she told me. It's a space that can be whatever you want it to be. You can work, you can relax, you can fall asleep, you can catch up with other women over coffee, or you can take fifteen minutes for yourself after work before heading home.
Events are included in membership, and at the moment, fall into three buckets: wellness, education and brand pop-ups.
Wellness offerings in October included a 30-minute guided meditation, a session with an energy healer to "understand your personal cocktail of male and female energies," and 20-minute manicures featuring non-toxic and vegan polishes last month.
In October, Maison hosted a handful of lunch-and-learn seminars that covered a range of topics, from "Parenting through the obstacles of childhood" to "Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
For comparison, The Wing membership is $185 per month.
These included $380 cashmere sweaters ($150 for children's sizes) and $70 pain cream.
Wu told me that having a store has always been a dream of hers, and the retail space is a manifestation of that. She said she enjoys curating items for Maison members who are short on time.
"The discovery of new things sort of gets lost in the shuffle of busy lives and 'I don't have time for this or I have time for that,''' Wu told me.
So, would I join Maison if I lived closer to it and had $325 per month to spare? Yes.
Because I was there during ONHY, I didn't get a true sense of its atmosphere on a daily basis. Even so, Maison felt like a place where I could go to clear my head, a home away from home where everything is taken care of — no need to cook or clean up clutter.
And Maison knows its audience: the green-and-pink color scheme, the minimalist decor, the plants, the omnipresent focus on wellness — this place is clearly designed for the modern 2019 woman.
For now, coffee shops serve as my "agenda-less" places to regroup and collect my thoughts, but do they resemble the chic Anthropologie home of my dreams? No, no they do not.
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