Harvard Club of New York

The Harvard Club of New York City
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
NYC Landmark
Show map of New York CityShow map of New YorkShow map of the United StatesShow all
Location	27 W 44th St, Manhattan, New York City, New York
Coordinates	40°45′20″N 73°58′52″W / 40.75566°N 73.9812°W / 40.75566; -73.9812Coordinates: 40°45′20″N 73°58′52″W / 40.75566°N 73.9812°W / 40.75566; -73.9812
Built	1894; 127 years ago (1894); enlarged in 1905, 1915 and 1989[1]
Architect	Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White
Architectural style	Colonial Revival, neo-Georgian style
NRHP reference No.	80002693
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	March 28, 1980[2]
Designated NYCL	January 11, 1967

The Harvard Club of New York City, commonly called The Harvard Club, is a private social club located in Midtown Manhattan, New York, USA.

Incorporated in 1887, it is housed in adjoining lots at 27 West 44th Street and 35 West 44th Street. The original wing, built in 1894, was designed in red brick neo-Georgian style by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White.

History[]

Founded without a location in 1865, by a group of Harvard University alumni, the club first rented a townhouse on 22nd Street.^[3] In 1888, the members acquired land on 44th Street. The clubhouse was established on Clubhouse Row,^[4] where many of New York City's other clubs are located, such as the Penn Club of New York directly in front of it at 30 W 44th, on the same block as the Cornell Club of New York at 6 E 44th (and Fifth Avenue) and New York Yacht Club at 37 W 44th, and a block away from the Yale Club of New York City on E 44th (and Vanderbilt) and Princeton Club of New York at 15 W 43rd (and Fifth Avenue) for inter-club events. Despite being in New York City, Columbia University shares a clubhouse with the Penn Club, while Dartmouth shares with the Yale Club and Brown shares the Cornell Club.

The Harvard Club library, photographed in 2016

The club selected architect Charles Follen McKim, of McKim, Mead & White, for the project. The design was Georgian style of architecture with Harvard brick and Indiana limestone. The building's 1894 façade is reminiscent of McKim, Mead and White's 1901 gates at Harvard Yard. In 1905, Harvard Hall, the Grill Room, a new library, a billiard room, and two floors of guest rooms were added.

In 1915, McKim, Mead & White doubled the building's size by constructing the Main Dining Room, a bar, additional guestrooms, banquet rooms, and athletic facilities including a 7th floor swimming pool. In 2003, a new 40,000-square-feet contemporary glass and limestone building was added by Davis Brody Bond, under the direction of J. Max Bond, Jr.

In the spring of 1970, four Harvard Business School students — Ellen Marram, Katie Metzger, Roslyn Braeman Payne, and Lynn Salvage — were turned away from membership interviews at the Harvard Club of New York, because the Club admitted only men.^[5] That fall, Marram and Salvage wrote to Morgan Wheelock, the president of the Harvard Club of New York, to request that women be granted equal membership privileges.^[6] Wheelock rejected the request.^[7] In January 1971, Marram and Salvage began a letter-writing campaign to the new president, Albert H. Gordon.^[8] A group of Harvard alumni seeking club membership met with Gordon in the fall of 1971, but Gordon initially denied the delegation's request to bring women's membership to a vote.^[9]

A Harvard Law School alumna, Marguerite "Mitzi" Filson, suggested the group take legal action against the Harvard Club.^[10] Marram, Salvage, Metzler, Payne, and Filson, represented pro bono by Jed S. Rakoff, then prepared a gender discrimination claim to file with the New York Commission on Human Rights.^[11] In response, Gordon agreed to put the matter to a vote.^[12] Shortly before the vote, several Harvard alumnae — including attorney and activist Brenda Feigen, cofounder of the ACLU Women's Rights Project — sued the Harvard Club in federal court seeking revocation of the Club's liquor license on sex discrimination grounds.^[13][14] Nevertheless, on May 4, 1972, the Club voted to deny full membership rights to women.^[15] A majority of members supported membership for women, but the vote fell 18 votes short of the required two-thirds.^[16] Marram, Salvage, Metzler, Payne, and Filson then filed their complaint with the New York Commission on Human Rights.^[17] In addition, Commission chairwoman Eleanor Holmes Norton issued a two-page letter condemning the Harvard Club's exclusion of women.^[18][19][20] After the parties came before a New York Human Rights administrative judge, the Harvard Club's Board of Managers called another vote.^[21] On January 11, 1973, the club voted 2,097 to 695 to admit female members.^[22]

The building is sometimes used for outside corporate events such as business conferences.^[23]

Gallery[]

• 

  The first Harvard Club of New York, a leased brownstone at 11 West 22nd Street.

• 

  The Harvard Club of NY photographed in 1894.

• 

  The Harvard Club Library, photographed in 1894.

• 

  The Harvard Club staircase, photographed in 1894.

• 

  The 1894 clubhouse, designed by Charles F. McKim, photographed in 1896.

• 

  The Harvard Club's staircase in 1906.

• 

  A 1920 view of the Harvard Club, with McKim, Mead & White's 1894 clubhouse at right, and to its left their 1915 addition.

• 

  The library reading area, in 2016.

Membership[]

To be eligible for election to membership, a candidate must hold a degree or honorary degree from Harvard, be a tenured faculty member at the University, or serve as an officer, or member of any Board or Committee of the University. Dues levied are on a sliding scale, based on age and proximity to the Club. Like most private clubs, members of the Harvard Club are given reciprocal benefits at clubs around the United States and the world.^[24]

Notable members[]

• Richard Edelman
• John F. Kennedy, Class of 1940
• Reginald Lewis, Law, class of 1968, 1st African American to create $1 Billion business empire
• John Jay McKelvey, Sr., Founder of Harvard Law Review
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, Class of 1903
• Theodore Roosevelt, Class of 1881
• James Toback, Class of 1966^[25]
• Michael Bloomberg, Harvard Business School Class of 1966, Mayor of New York City^[26]

Philanthropy[]

The HCNY Foundation has a scholarship fund that helps support 20 undergraduates at Harvard College and several students in graduate programs, as well as international student exchange programs.^{[citation needed]}

References[]

Further reading[]

• H. Horatio Joyce, "New York's Harvard House and the Origins of an Alumni Culture in America," in Gillin, Edward, and H. Horatio Joyce, eds. Experiencing Architecture in the Nineteenth Century: Buildings and Society in the Modern Age. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harvard Club of New York.

• Harvard Club of New York at hcny.com (official website)