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Harvard Club of New York City

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Coordinates: 40°45′20″N 73°58′52″W / 40.75566°N 73.9812°W / 40.75566; -73.9812
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The Harvard Club of New York City
Harvard Club of New York City is located in New York City
Harvard Club of New York City
Harvard Club of New York City is located in New York
Harvard Club of New York City
Harvard Club of New York City is located in the United States
Harvard Club of New York City
Location27 W 44th St, Manhattan, New York City, New York
Coordinates40°45′20″N 73°58′52″W / 40.75566°N 73.9812°W / 40.75566; -73.9812
Built1894, enlarged in 1905, 1915 and 1989[1]
ArchitectCharles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White
Architectural styleColonial Revival, neo-Georgian style
NRHP reference No.80002693
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMarch 28, 1980[2]
Designated NYCLJanuary 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 filled 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]

  • The first Harvard Club of New York, a leased brownstone at 11 West 22nd Street.
    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 of NY photographed in 1894.
  • The Harvard Club Library, photographed in 1894.
    The Harvard Club Library, photographed in 1894.
  • The Harvard Club staircase, photographed in 1894.
    The Harvard Club staircase, photographed in 1894.
  • The 1894 clubhouse, designed by Charles F. McKim, photographed in 1896.
    The 1894 clubhouse, designed by Charles F. McKim, photographed in 1896.
  • The Harvard Club's staircase in 1906.
    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.
    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.
    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

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

  1. ^ "AIA Guide to New York City, 4th Edition, page 233
  2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  3. ^ "Official History". Harvard Club of New York. Archived from the original on 2007-08-02. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
  4. ^ Slatin, Peter (1993-05-09). "Penn's Racing to Join Clubhouse Row". New York Times. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  5. ^ McGinn, Kathleen L. . A True Account of Women Gaining Full Membership in the Harvard Club of New York. Harvard Club of New York, 2017, p. 10 Library of Congress #2020447148
  6. ^ McGinn, Kathleen L. . A True Account of Women Gaining Full Membership in the Harvard Club of New York. Harvard Club of New York, 2017, p. 11 Library of Congress #2020447148
  7. ^ Id. at 12
  8. ^ Id.
  9. ^ Id.
  10. ^ McGinn, Kathleen L. . A True Account of Women Gaining Full Membership in the Harvard Club of New York. Harvard Club of New York, 2017, p. 12
  11. ^ Vi, Primus. Entrances and Exits. HARVARD MAGAZINE March-April 2017 https://harvardmagazine.com/2017/03/entrance-and-exits
  12. ^ McGinn, Kathleen L. . A True Account of Women Gaining Full Membership in the Harvard Club of New York. Harvard Club of New York, 2017, p. 13 Library of Congress #2020447148
  13. ^ White, April . Creating Change: Learning from the Integration of the Harvard Club of New York City, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, June 1, 2015 https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=4671
  14. ^ Andelman, David A. . Harvard Club to Remain a Male Enclave, NEW YORK TIMES, May 5, 1972 https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/05/archives/harvard-club-to-remain-a-male-enclave.html
  15. ^ Id.
  16. ^ Hertzberg, Hendrik . Motion, NEW YORKER, May 6, 1972 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1972/05/13/motion
  17. ^ McGinn, Kathleen L. . A True Account of Women Gaining Full Membership in the Harvard Club of New York. Harvard Club of New York, 2017, p. 15 Library of Congress #2020447148
  18. ^ Shapiro, Peter . Harvard Club Kills Women’s Move. THE HARVARD CRIMSON, May 5, 1972 https:/www.thecrimson.com/article/1972/5/5harvard-club-kills-womens-move-pthe/
  19. ^ The Harvard Club Votes 2,097to 695 to Accept Women. N.Y TIMES, January 12, 1973 https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/12/archives/the-harvard-club-votes-2097-to-695-to-accept-women.html
  20. ^ Hertzberg, Hendrik . Motion, NEW YORKER, May 6, 1972 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1972/05/13/motion
  21. ^ McGinn, Kathleen L. . A True Account of Women Gaining Full Membership in the Harvard Club of New York. Harvard Club of New York, 2017, p. 15 Library of Congress #2020447148
  22. ^ N.Y Harvard Club Approves Full Membership for Women. THE HARVARD CRIMSON, May 12, 1973 http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1973/1/12/ny-harvard-club-approves-full-membership
  23. ^ "The Decline of 'Big Soda'". The New York Times. October 2, 2015.
  24. ^ "Membership". Harvard Club of New York.
  25. ^ "Women say director James Toback assaulted them at Harvard Club of New York". Boston.com. 2018-03-20. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
  26. ^ Murphy, Dean E. (2001-07-25). "Bloomberg Quietly Left Four Mostly White Clubs". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-27.

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.
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