Friar's Club

 clubhouse, interesting place, 1909_construction, movie / film / TV location, Renaissance Revival (architecture)

5-story German/English-Renaissance clubhouse completed in 1909 as a mansion. Designed by Taylor & Levi for investment banker Martin Erdman, it was a departure from the smaller, typical brownstones lining the street on either side. Erdman died in the house in 1937, and the house was purchased by real estate broker Frederick Brown who stayed here for five years. Then in 1943 he sold it to the American Institute of Physics. The Friars acquired the building in 1957 to serve as their new clubhouse, known to members as The Monastery.

Founded in 1904 as an association of press agents in search of free theater tickets, the Friars Club became a well-known show business fraternity, famous for its scabrous celebrity roasts. Officers have included Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Tom Jones and Howard Cosell. Liza Minelli was the first female member in 1988--but Phyllis Diller had already snuck in in drag in 1983. Friars Club roasts were first televised in the late 1960s, first as part of the Kraft Music Hall series and later The Dean Martin Show. From 1998 to 2002, the roasts were broadcast on Comedy Central.

The facade is clad with irregular-sized limestone blocks that have been lightly scored and set in a random-range pattern. The ground floor has a 3-bay arcade with four Tuscan engaged columns resting on tall plinths. At the east bay is a recessed entry with three granite steps; it has a pair of glazed-and-carved paneled wood entry doors and a matching round-arched transom. At each of the two western bays are a pair of leaded-glass multi-light casement windows with a stone mullion set within a slightly recessed limestone wall, above a projecting stone water table. There are red canvas clamshell canopies in the round-arches of each bay, and low-relief keystones above each arch.

Above the ground floor are rectangular spandrel panels with geometric strap-work designs; carved consoles in line with the engaged columns. At the edges of the facade are two decorative metal downspouts held in place by metal straps. The 2nd floor has four Ionic pilasters with buckle-like relief patterns on the shafts, and window bays consisting of nine multi-light windows with stone mullions and bars. There is an entablature with additional strap relief patterns above each pilaster, and a flagpole projects from below the center window.

The 3rd floor has a stone balcony railing with interlocking ovals with small rectangular strap-like “connectors”. Each of the four intermediate posts has a buckle-like panel and an engaged ball-topped obelisk. The end bays have three leaded-glass multi-light windows and transoms, and there is a large central panel with rectilinear strap-work, a pair of heraldic shields, carved Tudor roses, vines, and topped with a semi-circular fan-like tympanum edged with a saw-tooth pattern. There is a a small ball-topped angular arch with a Tudor rose atop the fan-like tympanum.

The 4th floor has two bays of three windows, set closer to the center, and the 5th floor has a single, central bay of three windows flanked by two smaller windows. All of these have hood molding and low relief curvilinear strap-work atop the window openings. The crowning gable begins at the 5th floor. There is a steep cross-gable slate-clad roof toward the front of the building, with copper ridge caps and profiled stone coping; a ribbon-like crocket atop the gable end; two chimneys, each with eight clustered chimney pots with incised spiral patterns.

In 2016, the building was made a New York City landmark. The clubhouse exterior and interior served as a filming location for S1E3 of the Amazon series "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" as Susie signs in at the front guest register.

s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2578.pdf
daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-ermann-mansi...
www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/arts/friars-club-last-call.h...