Nippon Club Tower

 office building, clubhouse, social club

295-foot, 22-story modernist clubhouse/office building completed in 1990. Designed by Norboru Uenishi of Takenaka U.S.A., is clad in glass and grey granite. The tall ground floor has the deeply-recessed main entrance on the right, with glass double-doors. An angled, metal canopy covers the entry. To the left is a large show-window and a glass secondary door at the west end. The floors above have bands of short windows (two per floor) with dark glass and thin aluminum mullions. A thin, vertical metal stripe divides the facade asymmetrically, with three window panes to the right and five panes to the left. There is a setback above the 11th floor, and a shallower setback near the top of the the tower, which is crowned by a nearly 3-story tall stone slab angling forward, hiding the mechanical equipment behind it.

The Nippon Club of New York City is a private social club in New York City founded in 1905 by Jokichi Takamine for Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals. The only Japanese traditional gentlemen's club in the United States, the Nippon Club's dual purpose is to help enhance the unity of the Japanese community in New York and to help develop evolving relationships with the American people. Over the course of its first century, the Nippon Club has fostered ongoing business and cultural relationships through various events, workshops, cultural classes and athletic events.

The organization moved into its current home in 1991. The club facilities encompass a restaurant and tea room, banquet facilities, a ballroom, classrooms, and an exhibition gallery; however, unlike many similar clubs in Manhattan, overnight hotel accommodations were not included. The club occupies the 2nd-7th floor, with offices on the upper floors.

www.nipponclub.org/about.php