Harvard Club of New York City

History

Founded without a location in 1865 by a group of Harvard University alumni, the club rented a townhouse in 1887 on 22nd Street for use as a clubhouse. In 1888, the club acquired land on 44th Street intending to build a new clubhouse there.

After the Penn Club of New York (est. 1901) became the first alumni clubhouse to join Clubhouse Row for inter-club events at 30 West 44th Street after Harvard Club of New York City (est. 1888) at 27 West 44th, then New York Yacht Club (est. 1899) at 37 West 44th, and Yale Club of New York City (est. 1915) on East 44th (and Vanderbilt) and Cornell Club of New York (est. 1989) at 6 East 44th on the same block, with Princeton Club of New York joining in 1963 at 15 West 43rd (the only alumni clubhouse who was not on 44th Street, whose members, part of the staff, and in-residence club, Williams College Club of New York, were absorbed into Penn Club following a previous visiting reciprocity agreement between the Princeton-Penn Clubs, before Princeton's went out of business during COVID). Despite being in New York City, Columbia University Club of New York (est. 1901) left Princeton after residence agreement issues to become in-residence at The Penn Club, while Dartmouth shares the Yale Club, and Brown shares the Cornell Club.

ClubhouseThe Harvard Club selected architect Charles Follen McKim, of McKim, Mead & White, for the project. The design was Georgian style 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, the architects Davis Brody Bond, under the direction of J. Max Bond Jr., added a 40,000-square-foot annex on West 44th Street, with a façade clad in limestone and fenestrated with large glass windows.

Admission of women

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 it was at the time a male only club. Wheelock rejected the request. In January 1971, Marram and Salvage began a letter-writing campaign to the new president, Albert H. Gordon. 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.

A Harvard Law School alumnus, Marguerite "Mitzi" Filson, suggested the group take legal action against the Harvard Club of New York. In response, Gordon agreed to put the matter to a vote.

On May 4, 1972, the club voted to deny full membership rights to women. Marram, Salvage, Metzler, Payne, and Filson then filed their complaint with the New York Commission on Human Rights.

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.

The building is sometimes used for outside corporate events such as business conferences.

Notable members

• Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
• Richard Edelman
• John F. Kennedy
• Reginald Lewis, first African American to build a billion-dollar company
• John Jay McKelvey Sr., founder of Harvard Law Review
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Theodore Roosevelt
• James Toback
• Frederick M. Warburg
• Merrick Garland

Philanthropy

The Harvard Club of New York Foundation makes an annual gift to the Harvard College Financial Aid Program, maintains a scholarship fund that helps support 20 undergraduates at Harvard College, supports several Harvard University graduate programs and provides stipends to support Harvard University students to work non-paying, or low paying fields.

Gallery

File:(King1893NYC) pg562 HARVARD CLUB, 11 WEST 22D STREET.jpg|The first Harvard Club of New York, a leased brownstone at 11 West 22nd Street File:Harvard Club of NY photographed in 1894.jpg|The Harvard Club of New York in 1894 File:Harvard Club of NY Library in 1894.jpg|The Harvard Club Library in 1894 File:HVD CLUB OF NY STAIRCASE IN 1894.jpg|The Harvard Club staircase in 1894 File:Harvard Club of NY 1895 Clubhouse.jpg|The 1894 Harvard clubhouse, designed by Charles F. McKim, in 1896 File:The Harvard Club Stair 1906.jpg|The Harvard Club's staircase in 1906 File:Harvard Club, N.Y. LCCN99400913.tif|A 1920 view of the Harvard Club, with McKim, Mead & White's 1894 clubhouse (on right) and their 1915 addition to Harvard Club (on left)

References

References

1. {{cite aia4
2. {{NRISref. 2009a
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10. (2017). "A true account of women gaining full membership in The Harvard Club of New York.".
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12. Hertzberg, Hendrik. (May 6, 1972). "Motion".
13. (January 12, 1973). "The Harvard Club Votes 2,097 to 695 To Accept Women". The New York Times.
14. (May 12, 1973). "N.Y Harvard Club Approves Full Membership for Women". The Harvard Crimson.
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16. Sanger-Katz, Margot. (October 2, 2015). "The Decline of 'Big Soda'". [[The New York Times]].
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19. "Helping Harvard Students, Helping NYC".
20. "Our Mission".