The 1931 Union League Club - 38 East 37th Street

photograph by ajay_suresh

Judah P. Benjamin was a member of what was perhaps the most exclusive men's club in Manhattan in 1861--the Union Club.  When the War of Rebellion broke out, Benjamin accepted the post of Confederate Attorney General, later becoming the Secretary of War of the Southern Confederacy.  Not only was Judah P. Benjamin not stricken from the rolls of the Union Club, three members paid his due in his absence to keep him in good standing.  The New-York Tribune commented, "This act of friendship for a rebel in arms produced great indignation, and the contributors to the Benjamin dues fund were severely and unsparingly critical."

The schism within the club resulted in threats to fight duels (none of which ever took place).  It finally was resolved in 1863 when 70 members resigned and formed the Union League Club, "to fight the Copperheads," as remarked by The New York Times, later.  The New-York Tribune reported, "The only requisite for membership, besides unblemished reputation, should be an uncompromising and unconditional loyalty to Nation and a complete subordination thereto of all other political ideas."

The new venture was successful, with the Union League Club equaling or surpassing the Union Club as New York City's most distinguished gentlemen's social club.  In March 1881, it opened the doors to its sumptuous new clubhouse on Fifth Avenue at 39th Street.

The neighborhood around the clubhouse gradually changed over the decades.  On February 10, 1929, The New York Times remarked, 'The removal of the Union League Club has been rumored for several years, because of the northward trend of trade and towering business establishments."  President of the club, Alfred E. Maring added that, "some of the members have expressed a desire for newer quarters, maintaining that the present clubhouse lacks some modern conveniences."

At a meeting on February 25, 1929, the members voted to sell the leasehold of the current clubhouse.  A $3 million budget was authorized to purchase property and erect a new structure.  The proposed site, at the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 37th Street, was currently occupied with the former mansions of Robert Winthrop, John Crosby Gage, and the current home of Annie Burr Jennings.

On September 12, 1929, architect Benjamin W. Morris "submitted plans to the membership for the first time," reported The New York Times.  The article noted the building would cost "about $1,000,000."  

Benjamin Wistar Morris's rendering was published in The New York Times on December 29, 1929.

Ground was broken in December 1929.  The New York Times said that edifice would be "constructed of red brick with generous use of limestone trim.  The general character of the architecture is that of the eighteenth century, English and Colonial."  Morris's interiors, said the article, "have been developed to preserve the atmosphere which time has lent to the old clubhouse" and would "reproduce as far as possible the arrangements with which the members are familiar."

The cornerstone was laid on June 4, 1930 and construction was completed in November 1931.  The eight-story building's neo-Classical design was greatly influenced by Georgian prototypes.  In the end, the project went far above budget.  On February 24, 1931, The New York Times had reported, "Its cost was put at well above $4,000,000 yesterday."  

The two-story entrance on 37th Street sat within a bowed pavilion dignified by Corinthian pilasters.  Above it was a stately Palladian window crowned with a beefy limestone voussoir.  

photograph by M. M. Dwyer

Along with offices and a visitors' room on the ground floor was an art gallery.  The first floor consisted of a "club lounge," billiard room and cafe.  On the second floor were the "club hall" and library.  The main dining room and private dining rooms occupied the third floor.

Wives and other female guests entered on Park Avenue.  They would take a "special elevator," as described by The Times, to the fourth floor, the front of which, said the article, "is given up to the ladies' dining room and the ladies' lounge."  The remainder of the floor held squash courts and the gymnasium.

The women's entrance can be seen on Park Avenue in this 1931 photo by Wurts Bros.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The upper floors held 63 bedrooms, each with a private bath, described by the newspaper as "better than the ordinary hotel rooms."  The article commented, "A feature of the new building will be a golf practice room.  Adjacent to this is a room devoted to all sorts of Turkish baths, &c., for the use of the members."

A surprising detail that Benjamin W. Morris included in the plans was a bar.  On February 24, 1931, The New York Times explained, "In the expectation that prohibition will end soon, provision has been made at the new clubhouse of the Union League Club...for the operation of a large, sumptuous bar, when and if the land goes wet, to attend to the tastes of the members who have shown themselves in recent tests to be preponderantly wet."

The Union League Club held a farewell dinner in the old clubhouse on January 19, 1931.  The new building was formally opened with a private dinner on February 12.  In reporting the event, The New York Times remarked, "President Hoover, who like all Republican Presidents since Lincoln, is an honorary member, was unable to be present."

Eight years later, the Federal Writers' Project's New York City Guide commented, "Of the many professional, political, and social clubs in this section, the most famous is the Union League Club, which occupies spacious quarters in a modern building at 38 East Thirty-seventh Street."  Calling the club a "stronghold of Republican conservatism," it recalled, "During Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose insurgency the club signified its displeasure by banishing his portrait from the library, but after his defeat restored it to its original place."

The first exhibition in the art gallery in new building opened on November 12, 1931.  Consisting of only American artists, the exhibition included works by Karl Anderson, Hobart Nichols, F. Louis Mora, Chauncey F. Ryder and others.  

Art exhibitions became regular events.  On November 14, 1935, for instance, The New York Times reported, "The Metropolitan Museum of Art has lent twenty-seven paintings by American artists for a special exhibition at the Union League Club, to be opened today to card holders."

The affluent members of the Union League Club were not greatly affected by the Great Depression.  Nevertheless, they were not oblivious of the struggles of others.  On December 25, 1935, The New York Times reported, "The assembly room of the Union League Club on Park Avenue rang with the joyfulness of several hundred underprivileged children from the congested areas of lower Manhattan who were guests of the club yesterday at its annual Christmas party."

The following year, newspapers announced the upcoming preparations for the Christmas party.  Star baseball player Lou Gehrig would be here to hand out the Christmas presents, and the WPA Federal Theatre Circus was scheduled to provide a two-hour show for 200 "crippled and needy children."  After that, the young guests would enjoy a turkey dinner.  

The planned festivities piqued the attention of "a score of boys from the East River waterfront," reported by The New York Times.  They lurked around the neighborhood of the Union League Club on Christmas Eve.  When the busloads of children arrived, they boys moved in.  "Old hands at the art of 'gate-crashing' and the 'Tiny Tim racket,' they tagged onto the end of the first busload of afflicted youngsters and limped past the doorman," reported The Times.  Once inside, they dispersed among the crowd, donned paper hats and mixed within the joyful throng.

Lloyd Taylor, who was in charge of the affair, quickly noticed the uninvited guests.  He later told a reporter, "Well, it's Christmas."  

A major change to the venerable club came in 1937 when, on January 15, The New York Times reported, "The Union League Club, whose membership has been closed to all but Republicans since it was organized in 1863, voted last night to lift this restriction."

It would take decades for another restriction to be removed.  On February 20, 1953, a meeting of bankers "interested in auditing" was held at the Union League Club.  Bertie G. Hale, a vice-president of the Bank of Georgia, traveled from Atlanta to participate.  Unfortunately, as reported by The New York Times, "when Mrs. Hale presented herself she was turned away, informed that women were not permitted in the quarters where the meeting had been scheduled."

Three decades later, in July 1987, the New York City Human Rights Commission formally accused the Union League Club of discriminating against women.  A month before the trial was scheduled in November 1988, the club passed a resolution to admit women.  Perhaps sarcastically, Mayor Ed Koch commented, "They now accept [the law] fully, with a certain amount of joy."

While social changes affected the racial and gender mix within the Union League Club, one steadfast rule remained--the dress code.  While the outside world turned to sneakers, jeans and open collars, the necktie and jacket ruled within the clubhouse.  It was a rule that became stingingly evident to internationally known sculptor Mark di Suyero in 1989.

Di Suyero was scheduled to receive an award here from the Sculpture Center, an art school and gallery, on the evening of December 7 that year.  Newsday reported, "some 240 people were waiting to honor him," but the the guest of honor never made it to the venue.  He arrived wearing, according to his nephew, Enrico Martignoni, "a pair of white, high-top basketball shoes, a pair of pants and a couple of shirts and a sweater."  The doorman loaned him a jacket and tie, but the sculptor, in protest, put the jacket on backwards.  Neither the doorman nor the artist was willing to back down.  Di Suvero was not admitted and he left.  Newsday said, "Neither the Sculpture Center nor the Union League Club would comment."

photograph by Jim Henderson

Today, amid the trappings of paneled walls, chandeliers, and leather club chairs; and surrounded by oil portraits of distinguished former members, a visitor to the Union League Club experiences the civilized, hushed environment Benjamin Wistar Morris created nearly a century ago.

many thanks to Paul McNamara for hosting me and touring the club.