Penn Club of New York (New York City, New York)

 university, club, interesting place

14-story Beaux-Arts clubhouse completed in 1901 as an 11-story clubhouse. Designed by Tracy & Swartwout, both Yale graduates, it opened as the Yale Club. Organized in 1897, the Yale Club of New York City remained here until 1915, when it moved to a larger facility two blocks east. This structure was next owned (1916-25) by Delta Kappa Epsilon, a fraternity founded at Yale, and used as a club and headquarters. The Army & Navy Club of America was located here from 1925 until its bankruptcy in 1933. The building remained vacant until it was acquired by the U. S. Government in 1943; it served as the Maritime Service Center during World War II, and after 1948 as headquarters of the U.S. Army Organized Reserve Corps. It was donated as “surplus property” to Touro College in 1971. Acquired by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in 1989, this has been the home since 1994 of the Penn Club of New York, which added three upper stories by (David P.) Helpern Architects.

The Penn Club of New York (usually referred to as The Penn Club) is a private club located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. Its membership is restricted almost entirely to students, alumni, and faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the annual banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria in January 1900, New York Penn alumni presented a plan to secure "a convenient suite of rooms in the middle of the city, adjacent to a cafe." On Saturday evening, October 6, 1900, the University of Pennsylvania's Club of New York opened in four ground floor rooms in the Royalton Hotel, just 200 feet west of today's Penn Club. It soon had more than 150 members at a time when 400 alumni lived in the New York area. (Today 50,000 alumni and friends live in the region.)

For most of its history, the club has moved constantly and shared or inhabited other clubs’ quarters. After a period (1905-10) in the Hotel Stanley, the club attempted periodically to find a new clubhouse, but this effort was interrupted by World War I. In 1920, it purchased the former Home Club, 15 East 45th Street, and the adjacent property at 12-14 East 46th Street, but was housed 1922-35) at No. 35-37 East 50th Street. In 1935-38, it shared the Cornell Club, 22 East 38thStreet, then was in Satterlee House, 37 East 36th Street. In 1939-61, the Penn Club was in the Phi Gamma Delta Club, 106 West 56th Street, and in 1964-66 was at the Biltmore Hotel, Madison Avenue and 45th Street. For the next three decades, Penn alumni wanting to join a club became associate members of the Princeton Club, 15 West 43rd Street (located here since 1963), which along with the Cornell Club (1989), 6 East 44th Street, were late arrivals to clubhouse row.

The 2-story, three-bay base of the building is clad in rusticated limestone above a granite water table. The central entrance has a bossed surround surmounted by a bracketed decorative molded entablature. The entrance is approached by granite steps; curved metal railings, decorative metal lampposts and a sidewalk awning were installed in 1992. At the end bays the original basement and ground-floor openings were joined (1992-94) and have metal doors surmounted by pediments (with light fixtures) and metal screens. These doorway openings have voussoirs surmounted by panels decorated with plain disks flanked by foliation. The central 2nd-story bay is a multi-pane window group with its original metal framing having a bracketed central pediment decorated with anthemia and a band decorated with bosses. This window group is flanked by Ionic combination pilaster-half columns supporting a plaque. Flagpoles were installed on either side of the central bay. The outer 2nd-story windows have voussoirs surmounted by plaques flanked by swags, which are surmounted by bands decorated with bosses. The base is terminated by a molded and dentiled cornice.

The 4-bay midsection is clad in red brick laid in Flemish bond (with glazed headers) with terra-cotta ornamental details. The 3rd-floor central bays are flanked by decorative panels surmounted by a pierced balcony supported by large foliated brackets; the outer bays have paneled pilasters that support corbeled pediments decorated with anthemia, and are flanked by disks and ornamental bands. The 4th-7th-floor windows have brick voussoirs and terra-cotta keystones. The outer bays of the 7th floor are surmounted by pierced balconies supported by large foliated brackets with lions’ heads. The 8th-floor windows have terra-cotta lintels with foliated cartouches. The midsection is terminated by a molded terra-cotta cornice.

The 9th floor has small windows flanked by two central fluted pilasters and by panels decorated with plain disks and foliation; the story is terminated by a widely-projecting coffered and modillioned copper cornice decorated with lions’ heads, supported by large foliated brackets, which in turn supports a balcony decorated with panels and balusters. The 10th story has two outer windows flanked by terra-cotta pilasters and brick panels supporting a molded cornice. The central 10th-floor bay has an oversized molded central arch surmounted by a foliated cartouche with the Connecticut state shield; within the arch is a tripartite window group with pilasters and a large divided fanlight. The 11th floor is a standing-seam copper-clad mansard roof pierced by windows. The set-back 12th-14th floors (1992-94) are clad in brick and limestone and have windows. The 12th floor, terminated by a balustrade, has a curved central section that is decorated with the University of Pennsylvania shield.

The portion of the rear facade visible from West 43rd Street consists of the upper portion of the original building and the 1992-94 addition, both unarticulated, clad in red brick, and pierced by windows and louvers, with four metal ventilating shafts. Two air-conditioning condensers and a water tower are located on the roof.

www.pennclub.org/
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