Just Off Fifth: The Lotus Club, 5 East 66th Street

A private club with a focus on arts & letters, the Lotus Club was founded in 1870 and has counted Mark Twain, Orson Welles, Margaret Mead and Wynton Marsalis.  The organization takes its name from the poem “The Lotus Eaters” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who describes a land “in which it seemed always afternoon”.  Its… Continue reading

807 Fifth Avenue, The Knickerbocker Club

A block north of the Metropolitan Club, the Knickerbocker Club is worlds away in terms of design, aesthetics and reputation.  One of the city’s most exclusive clubs, the Knickerbocker is housed in an austere yet roomy Delano & Aldrich Colonial Revival design of 1913. Simple, gracious interiors are visible through tall Federal-style windows.  A small… Continue reading

1 East 60th Street, The Metropolitan Club

A spectacular 1893 extravaganza by McKim, Mead & White, the Metropolitan Club is chiefly the work of the firm’s leading partner Stanford White and may be his most flamboyant New York City design, especially when compared to Charles McKim’s University Club at 54th and Fifth.  McKim’s building is a highly ornate but sober monument to… Continue reading

The University Club, 1 West 54th Street

One of McKim, Mead & White’s best New York City buildings and perhaps the best example of the skyscraper-palazzo in the world, The University Club conceals a nine-story building behind a three-story face derived after Florentine models.  Robust yet gracious ornament, strong proportions and a sense of august eminence carry the day. The sumptuous interiors… Continue reading