30 West 44th Street (formerly the Yale Club of New York City Building, United States Maritime Building, and Army Reserves Building; also the Penn Club of New York Building) is the clubhouse of the Penn Club of New York in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by architecture firm Tracy and Swartwout in the Beaux-Arts style, the building opened in 1901 as the Yale Club of New York City's clubhouse. The building is part of Clubhouse Row, a concentration of clubhouses on 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, and is a New York City designated landmark.
The structure was originally 11 stories tall, but it was expanded to 14 stories in the early 1990s. The ornately decorated facade on 44th Street is made of brick, Indiana limestone, and terracotta; the first two stories are clad with rusticated limestone blocks, while the upper stories are largely clad with brick and terracotta. The mansard roof on the 11th story is topped by a three-story brick-and-limestone penthouse. When the building served as the Yale Club's clubhouse, it had club rooms on the lower floors, bedrooms in the intermediate stories, and dining rooms on the highest stories. The interiors have been modified significantly over the years. The modern clubhouse contains club rooms, bedrooms, and dining rooms for the Penn Club.
The Yale Club was founded in 1897 and, following rapid increases in its membership, acquired the 44th Street site in early 1900. The Yale Club Building officially opened on May 1, 1901, but it became overcrowded within a decade, prompting the club to relocate to 50 Vanderbilt Avenue in 1915. The building was next occupied by Delta Kappa Epsilon from 1917 to 1925 and by Army & Navy Club of America from 1925 to 1933. After standing vacant for a decade, the building was acquired by the federal government of the United States in 1943. The building contained offices for the United States Maritime Service during World War II, and it housed the Organized Reserve after 1948. The federal government sold 30 West 44th Street in 1971 to Touro College, which sold the building to the University of Pennsylvania in 1989. Penn hired David P. Helpern to renovate the building and add three stories for the Penn Club, and the building reopened in June 1994. The Columbia University Club of New York also uses the clubhouse under a reciprocity agreement with the Penn Club.
Site 30 West 44th Street, originally the Yale Club of New York City Building, is on the south sidewalk of 44th Street, between Sixth Avenue and Fifth Avenue, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The rectangular land lot covers , with a frontage of on 44th Street and a depth of . On the same block, the New York City Bar Association Building and the Royalton Hotel are to the west, while the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen Building, the Century Association Building, and the Hotel Mansfield are to the east. Other nearby buildings include the Algonquin, Iroquois, and Sofitel New York hotels to the northwest; the New York Yacht Club Building and the Harvard Club of New York City building to the north; and the Aeolian Building, Salmon Tower Building, 500 Fifth Avenue, and 510 Fifth Avenue on the block immediately to the south.
The current building replaced smaller structures at 30 and 32 West 44th Street. The adjacent block of 44th Street is known as Club Row, which contains several clubhouses. When 30 West 44th Street was developed at the beginning of the 20th century, several other clubhouses were being built in the area. By the early 1900s, these other clubs included the New York Yacht Club, Harvard Club, New York City Bar Association, Century Association, and the City Club of New York, all of which remained in the area at the end of the 20th century. Prior to the development of 30 West 44th Street, the neighborhood contained a slaughterhouse, stables for stagecoach horses, and a train yard for the elevated Sixth Avenue Line. There were historically many stagecoach stables on 43rd and 44th Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, but only a few of the stables remained by the end of the 20th century.
Architecture Tracy and Swartwout designed 30 West 44th Street, which was completed in 1901, in the Beaux-Arts style. The structure was originally 11 stories tall, but it was expanded to 14 stories in the early 1990s. The design of the upper stories and interior dates to the 1990s renovation, which was designed by David W. Helpern. 30 West 44th Street was the first university clubhouse in New York City to be designed as a high-rise structure. The building was predated by numerous multi-story clubhouses, such as the University Club of New York, but these clubhouses were generally designed to resemble low-rise buildings, downplaying their height.
Facade The building's facade largely resembles its original design and is primarily made of brick and Indiana limestone. In addition, New York Architectural Terra Cotta manufactured architectural terracotta for the building's facade. The 44th Street elevation of the facade is ornately decorated. It is divided horizontally into a two-story base, six-story midsection, three-story upper section, and a setback three-story penthouse. The base is divided vertically into three bays, while the upper stories are split into four bays. The rear elevation of the facade is clad in plain red brick with window openings and ventilation grilles. Two water towers and rooftop mechanical equipment are visible from 43rd Street, behind the building.
Base
The lowest portion of the facade contains a water table of granite, above which the first two stories are clad with rusticated limestone blocks. The main entrance is at the center of the facade and is accessed by a short granite stoop with granite walls on either side. The doorway contains a set of metal-and-glass double doors, topped by a metal grille, and is surrounded by bosses. Above the main entrance is an entablature with brackets; originally, the center of the entablature contained a cartouche with Yale University's shield. To the right of the main entrance was a window that illuminated the basement, while to the left was a doorway to the basement; both were topped by sash windows at the first story. In the early 1990s, metal doors were installed at ground level in both bays, with pediments, lighting fixtures, and metal screens above the doors. Above the doorways are voussoirs; the center voussoir contains a round disk with foliate motifs on either side.
On the second story, the center bay contains multiple panes of windows within a metal frame, as well as a pediment with brackets inside the window opening. The bay is flanked by Ionic-style pilasters and half columns, In addition, during the early-1990s renovation, flagpoles were installed next to these pilasters and half-columns. The two outer bays on the second story contain sash windows; above these are voussoirs that contain plaques at the center and swags on either side. The years MDCCCXCVII (1897) and MDCCCCI (1901) were originally inscribed on each plaque, signifying the years of the Yale Club's founding and the building's completion, but the inscriptions have since been removed. Above the voussoirs in the outer bays are bands with bosses. A cornice, with moldings and denticulation, runs horizontally above the second story.
Upper stories
On the third to eighth stories, the facade is made of red brick with Flemish bond, and there are terracotta decorations. On the third story, the two center bays contain decorative panels on either side, and there is a balcony with ornate brackets directly above these windows. The outer bays on that story contain windows, flanked by pilasters and topped by pediments with corbels and anthemia. There are round disks on either side of the outermost windows on the third story, as well as decorative horizontal bands above these disks. On the fourth through seventh stories, the lintels above each window are composed of brick voussoirs that flank a terracotta keystone. At the seventh story, the windows in the outer bays are flanked by brackets shaped like lions' heads; these brackets support small balconies in the eighth story's outer bays. The lintels above the eighth-story windows are made of terracotta, and there are cartouches with foliate decorations at the center of each eighth-story window. A molded cornice, made of terracotta, runs above the eighth story.
There are small window openings at the ninth story, alternating with terracotta panels that contain disks and foliate decorations; the center of the ninth story contains a pair of fluted pilasters. Above the ninth story is a large copper cornice with coffers, modillions, and large brackets with foliate decorations. There is a balcony above this cornice, placed behind a balustrade that contains panels and balusters. On the tenth story, the center bay contains a molded oversized arch, which includes a tripartite window. This arch formerly contained an inscription of the motto of Connecticut, the state where Yale's campus is located. The two outer bays on that story are flanked by brick and terracotta pilasters, above which is a cornice. The eleventh story is placed within a copper mansard roof and contains projecting dormer windows.
Above the eleventh story is a balustrade; the center of this balustrade curves outward and contains the University of Pennsylvania's seal. The top three stories are set back from the mansard roof and are contain a facade of brick and limestone.
Features
Yale Club Originally, the lowest two floors were used as offices, the middle six floors contained bedrooms, and the highest three floors were used as dining rooms. The Yale Club building was one of several "tower clubhouses" in New York City, where bedrooms were placed beneath club rooms on the lower floors and dining rooms on the upper stories. According to architect Robert A. M. Stern, this particular arrangement was generally used by social clubs that were less prestigious than the Union Club of the City of New York or the Metropolitan Club. The interior also originally contained decorations relating Yale University itself and to Connecticut.
The ground level contained an entrance hall, as well as two reception rooms, an office, billiards room, and a grill room. One of the reception rooms was a wood-paneled smoking room to the left (east) of the entrance hall; the wood paneling contained various inscriptions from old German texts. To the right (west) of the entrance hall was a tiny reception room. The colonial-style grill room measured and contained wooden walls, white floor tiles, and a large fireplace donated by the class of 1867. A set of columns separated the grill room from a similarly styled billiards room. The second floor contained a lounging room, library, and reading room, which could be combined into a single space for receptions and club meetings. It contained green furniture, as well as wooden columns and pilasters with gold capitals. A marble spiral staircase led from the second floor to the rest of the building.