Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity

 clubhouse, historical building

7-story Renaissance-revival office building completed in 1891 as the Renaissance Hotel, an apartment hotel for young men. Designed by Clarence S. Luce, it is clad in tan brick and limestone above a 2-story rusticated limestone base. The facade in 11 bays wide, with a central entrance consisting of wooden double-doors set under a round-arch. The doorway is framed by paired, white marble Corinthian columns with shared bases, supporting an entablature with a dentiled cornice that serves as the base of a balustraded balcony at the 2nd floor. Another set of paired Corinthian columns at the 2nd floor rises from bases that break the balustrade and support a similar entablature to that below, except that it is crowned by a larger, projecting cornice with modillions. Between each of the pairs of columns at the 2nd floor is a shallow niche, and between the two sets of columns the middle bay has a triple-window with transoms. At the 2nd floor the bay to either side of the center bay has small windows with tiny dentil courses at the top and bottom, capped by a ronud-arch. The other bays have larger square-headed windows. On the ground floor there are three storefront bays on either side of the entrance, each with a wood-and-glass door recessed under a round-arch, flanked by plate-glass show-windows and topped by grey metal panels. The base is capped by a fluted band course.

The upper floors have stone quoins around the windows, which are framed in rope moldings on the 3rd, 4th & 6th floors. The 3rd-floor windows have simple stone cornices, while those on the 4th floor are slightly larger and supported by ornamental brackets and form the base of 5th-floor balconies. The balconies have elaborate fronts, set between stone bases for Corinthian columns that frame the windows and support dentiled cornices that project out over the columns and are topped by decorative arches. The 7th floor is the most ornamented, set off by an elaborate band course at the bottom. It has recessed double-windows in stone surrounds, with elaborate cartouches on the piers. A dentil course underlines the modillioned roof cornice.

The building was purchased by the Columbia University Club in 1915 and converted to its new clubhouse. The Columbia University Club began to struggle in the 1960s, an era of diminished alumni involvement. By 1973, the Club closed the clubhouse doors at 4 West 43rd Street, and the building was converted to office space. It now houses the Gateway Art Center, headquarters of the Unification Church of New York City, the Muslim Center of Manhattan, and the Flamenco Vivo ballroom.

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