University Club
Encyclopedia
The University Club of New York (also known as University Club or UClub) is a private social club
located at 1 West 54th Street
at Fifth Avenue in Manhattan
, New York
, NY. It received its charter in 1865, but the origins date back to the autumn of 1861 when a group of college friends, principally Yale
alumni, founded the club hoping to extend their collegial ties. The club is not affiliated with any other University Club or college alumni clubs.
Founded to celebrate the union of social duty and intellectual life, the Club states in its charter that the purpose of the organization shall be 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 purposes." In addition to its many grand architectural features, the University Club hosts one of New York's great private art collections, with a particularly strong group of works by great American painters such as Gilbert Stuart
and Childe Hassam
, who featured the Club's facade in his work "Allies Day, May 1917".
, who were all members, got the architectural commission and went on to design what remains one of the grandest clubhouses of the city's prominent social clubs.
Erected in 1899 in a Mediterranean Revival Italian Renaissance palazzo
-style and particularly noted for its library (with ceiling murals by H. Siddons Mowbray
modeled after the Vatican Apartments
), dining room, and the attempt made by the architects to disguise a nine-story building behind what seems to be a three-story facade.
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
located at 1 West 54th Street
54th Street (Manhattan)
54th Street is a two-mile-long, one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan.-West Side Highway:*The route begins at the West Side Highway . Opposite the intersection is the New York Passenger Ship Terminal and the Hudson River...
at Fifth Avenue in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, NY. It received its charter in 1865, but the origins date back to the autumn of 1861 when a group of college friends, principally Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
alumni, founded the club hoping to extend their collegial ties. The club is not affiliated with any other University Club or college alumni clubs.
History
The first meeting was held in the rooms of the Columbia College Law School (now the Columbia University Law School), where Theodore Dwight, the Club's first president and a Hamilton College alumnus, was a professor. After several moves, the club took over an existing town house at 26th Street and Madison Avenue in 1883.Founded to celebrate the union of social duty and intellectual life, the Club states in its charter that the purpose of the organization shall be 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 purposes." In addition to its many grand architectural features, the University Club hosts one of New York's great private art collections, with a particularly strong group of works by great American painters such as Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Charles Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island.Gilbert Stuart is widely considered to be one of America's foremost portraitists...
and Childe Hassam
Childe Hassam
Frederick Childe Hassam was a prolific American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionism to American collectors, dealers, and museums...
, who featured the Club's facade in his work "Allies Day, May 1917".
Building
By the 1890s, with its membership limited by the size of its building to 1,500 resident members and 900 who lived elsewhere, the Club was looking for a larger space, because it had nearly 600 people on a waiting list to join. It acquired the St. Luke's Hospital site and proceeded to seek an architecture firm. The firm of Charles McKim, William Mead and Stanford WhiteMcKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead & White was a prominent American architectural firm at the turn of the twentieth century and in the history of American architecture. The firm's founding partners were Charles Follen McKim , William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White...
, who were all members, got the architectural commission and went on to design what remains one of the grandest clubhouses of the city's prominent social clubs.
Erected in 1899 in a Mediterranean Revival Italian Renaissance palazzo
Palazzo
Palazzo, an Italian word meaning a large building , may refer to:-Buildings:*Palazzo, an Italian type of building**Palazzo style architecture, imitative of Italian palazzi...
-style and particularly noted for its library (with ceiling murals by H. Siddons Mowbray
Henry Siddons Mowbray
Henry Siddons Mowbray was an American artist.-Biography:He was born of English parents at Alexandria, Egypt. His father, George M. Mowbray, was an expert in explosives. Left an orphan, the son was taken to America by an uncle, who settled at North Adams, Massachusetts...
modeled after the Vatican Apartments
Papal Apartments
The Papal Apartments is the non-official designation for the collection of apartments, both private and state, that wrap around a courtyard on two sides of the third floor of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City in Rome...
), dining room, and the attempt made by the architects to disguise a nine-story building behind what seems to be a three-story facade.