The University Club of New York (also known as University Club) is a private social club at 1 West 54th Street and Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Founded to celebrate the union of social duty and intellectual life, the club was chartered in 1865 for the "promotion of literature and art". The club is not affiliated with any other University Club or college alumni clubs. The club is considered one of the most prestigious in New York City.
The University Club's predecessor, the Red Room Club, was founded in 1861 when a group of Yale College alumni founded the club to extend their collegial ties. Once the University Club received its charter, it struggled with financing, and from 1868 to 1879 the club had no permanent clubhouse and relatively few members. The club was reorganized in 1879 and became a popular social club, being housed at John Caswell's residence until 1883 and then at the Jerome Mansion until the current clubhouse was completed in 1899. Women were not permitted to become members until 1986, and are today highly represented within the membership.
The current clubhouse, a nine-story granite-faced Renaissance Revival structure, was designed by Charles Follen McKim, a member of the club. It contains three main floors with a reception area at the first story, a set of library rooms on the fourth story, and a dining area on the seventh story. There are various mezzanines with bedrooms and club rooms as well, in addition to a bath and swimming pool in the basement. The tenth story contains five singles squash courts and one hardball squash doubles court. The clubhouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a New York City designated landmark.
History
Early years In late 1861, a group of Yale College alumni from the classes of 1859 to 1861 formed the Red Room Club to continue their collegial friendship. The club initially held meetings at the family house of Francis Edward Kernochan at 145 Second Avenue in Manhattan. During the winters of 1862 and 1863, the club met on Saturdays in one room of the Kernochan house, dubbed the "Red Room". According to a later Harper's Weekly magazine article, the club had no regular organization; the only common trait was that the members were Yale alumni. The club met at 7 West 30th Street during 1864 after Kernochan's father Joseph fell ill, interfering with the activities of the club. Cofounder Henry Holt recalled that, in late 1864, one member of the club had suggested that a university club be created. Joseph Kernochan died in late 1864 and the estate was broken up, including the family's Second Avenue house. Francis and his brother J. Frederic took rooms on 12th Street, where the Red Room Club continued to meet through early 1865.
Incorporation and early difficulties
The University Club of the City of New York was officially incorporated on April 28, 1865, by act of the New York State Legislature. The club was incorporated "for the purpose of the promotion of literature and art, by establishing and maintaining a library, reading-room, and gallery of art, and by such other means as shall be expedient and proper for such purpose." The founding members had graduated from various colleges and universities in addition to Yale.; The club's first president, Theodore William Dwight,A picture of Theodore William Dwight, captioned with his full name, appears in , image opposite p. 12. Dwight's name is sometimes incorrectly rendered as Theodore Woolsey Dwight in sources such as and was a Hamilton College alumnus and a professor at the Columbia College Law School. George Van Nest Baldwin was the vice president, Theodore B. Bronson was treasurer, Edward Mitchell was secretary, and the founders listed in the acts of incorporation were appointed to the club's council. The original constitution did not appear to have initiation fees and the club seems to have not restricted membership based on how long ago a member graduated from a college or university. Nonetheless, membership was restricted to men.
After incorporation, the club officers wished to collect $4,500 from members to raise money for a clubhouse. In November 1865, Dwight announced that all membership dues had to be paid immediately, but that less than half of members had paid their dues. The next month, the club was able to sign a short-term lease at a townhouse on 9 Brevoort Place. This clubhouse was on what is now 10th Street east of Broadway. In its first year, the University Club had over 100 names on its rolls. The club had so little money, the townhouse's landlady agreed to accept $750 of the $1,250 lease payment. Disputes over financing continued through 1867, even though the space was subleased to Loyal Legion, which similarly had low finances. Having no money to pay off outstanding debts or lease space, the University Club moved out of Brevoort Place in late 1867.
The club was nearly dormant for the next twelve years, with low membership and no permanent clubhouse. In 1869, the club met in the rooms of Luther M. Jones at 32 Waverly Place, and George V. N. Baldwin was elected as president. The next year, the University Club met at the office of F. E. Kernochan at 23 Broadway, and in 1871 the members voted to not seek any more clubhouses or elect any new members. Though club records are inconsistent, the members met in late 1871 at 81 Fifth Avenue; Kernochan's house, on 18 West 33rd Street; and George St. J. Sheffield's house, at 11 East 42nd Street. With 28 members in 1872, the club often met for dinners, and its meetings tended to be "more entertaining than serious". By late 1874, the club had dwindled to 24 members and existed as the University Dining Club. The club met at its treasurers' office at 120 Broadway, the Equitable Life Building, for six years in the 1870s, though this fact was not acknowledged until 1879.
Reorganization and growth
The news media reported in December 1878 that the University Club was to resume activities. The board of officers were planning to elect 200 new members, but The New York Times reported: "It is believed that there will be no difficulty in securing a membership of a thousand, if so large a number seems desirable." The first printed list of newly elected members, published early in 1879, included almost 300 names, which was quickly expanded to 502. The members appointed a committee in March to search for a new clubhouse and an official club restaurant. The constitution of the club was modified in April and May to accommodate the additional memberships. Henry Hill Anderson was elected as the president, and membership was initially capped at 750.
In May 1879, the University Club leased the John Caswell residence at Fifth Avenue and 35th Street for five years. The residence was a freestanding four-story brick building. Club member Robert H. Robertson renovated the house to accommodate the club. The ornately decorated building contained a lounging room, a dining room, and a piazza on the first floor, with additional functions on the upper stories. Another member, Charles Follen McKim designed a flag for the club, which moved into its new quarters in June 1879. One year after reorganization, the club had 689 members. The University Club's members voted to authorize $10,000 in interest-paying securities in November 1880. While at the Caswell residence, the University Club formed its library.
The University Club quickly outgrew the Caswell house and began planning improvements in 1881. The club's council first proposed extending the lease and building an annex on an adjacent vacant plot, but this failed. The council then proposed buying the house for $500,000 in May 1883, also unsuccessfully. Ultimately, the club signed a lease for Leonard Jerome's residence at 26th Street and Madison Avenue, the Jerome Mansion, in November 1883. The club was thus allowed to pay $22,500 a year for five years with the option for a five-year extension at $24,000 a year. The University Club bought some of the furniture from the house's previous occupant. The annual meeting of May 17, 1884, was held in the new clubhouse. The club built a kitchen on the roof, above the theater attached to the house. The house's ground floor had a cafe, billiard room, and bowling alleys, while the second floor had a lounge. There was a library on the mezzanine and, for the first time, bedrooms for members to sleep overnight. Some improvements to the house were postponed until 1886, when the theater was converted into a dining room and an elevator was installed to designs by C. C. Haight.
Anderson retired as president of the club in 1888, and George Absalom Peters was elected as the club's new president. In the same year, the club leased the Jerome Mansion for another five years. At the annual meeting in 1889, the club's council established a fund for a permanent clubhouse building. James W. Alexander was elected as club president in 1891. The club had 1,884 members by 1893, and the Jerome Mansion was not large enough to fit all the members. The president was authorized to lease an adjacent house on Madison Avenue, owned by the Stokes family, but this never happened. In October 1893, the Jerome Mansion lease was extended five years, and around the same time, membership was increased to 2,100.
Permanent clubhouse building By the mid-1890s, the University Club had no vacancies in its membership and hundreds of people on a waiting list to join. However, the Jerome Mansion was becoming too small to meet the club's needs. As early as 1893, the club had considered buying the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street was part of the old campus of St. Luke's Hospital, which had moved to Morningside Heights, Manhattan, in 1893. A real-estate speculator had offered to buy all 32 land lots on the old St. Luke's campus for $2.4 million, or $75,000 per lot. The hospital's trustees had rejected an offer from the University Club to buy only eight of these lots at $93,750 each, and the University Club rejected the trustees' counter-offer of $125,000 for each of the eight lots.
Planning and construction
At the meeting of February 1896, a five-person committee was created to identify sites for a new clubhouse. The club had a dedicated clubhouse fund of $300,000. On May 4, 1896, the committee announced that it had examined several sites and recommended three sites. The northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street, on the old campus of St. Luke's Hospital, was again suggested. Two other sites along Fifth Avenue were also suggested: one at the southeast corner with 37th Street and one at the southeast corner of 44th Street.The 54th Street site consisted of five land lots measuring . The 37th and 44th Street sites both consisted of six land lots. The 54th Street parcel could be bought for $675,000, while the 37th and 44th Street parcels were offered by the Stevens family under 20-year leases at $35,000 per year.
The council moved to recommend the 54th Street site on May 5, 1896, as that offer expired in 48 hours. Conflicting explanations are given for why the 37th and 44th Street parcels were rejected. The historian John Tauranac and a club historian write that the council preferred to not lease their space, but The New York Times reported that these parcels were considered "the wrong corners" because northwest and northeast corner sites enjoyed more direct sunlight. The next week, the members at large voted to approve the 54th Street site, which consisted of five lots. With the assurance that a new clubhouse would be developed, the council was finally able to increase its membership.