photo by Anthony Bellov
Even as he and Bruce Price were designing part of David H. King Jr.'s ambitious "King's Model Houses" in Harlem, Clarence S. Luce was working on another project for the developer--an upscale residential hotel in Midtown. As the Renaissance Hotel neared completion on August 16, 1891, The New York Times called it, "an ornament to the city" and described it as, "magnificent."
The article began saying, "One of the handsomest and most interesting buildings in the city is the new Hotel Renaissance, in West Forty-third Street, near Fifth Avenue." The journalist described the style as "a type of the Renaissance with pronounced American interpretations." Anticipating skyscraper technology, Luce employed an iron skeleton "and hollow terra-cotta brick, strong and light." The article said the foundations were "like the grave of a tavern keeper's wife, 'both wide and deep.'"
Luce faced the two-story rusticated base with marble, "calculated to reflect the general renaissance style." It was dominated by the Caen marble entrance, designed as a double-height porch with paired columns.
photo by Anthony Bellov
The four-story midsection was faced in tan brick and trimmed in limestone. The windows of the fifth floor imitated Renaissance balconies, with stone balustrades and engaged columns that upheld arched, shell-filled pediments. Extravagantly decorated terra cotta panels separated the top floor openings, and a stone balustrade sat upon the overhanging cornice.
Guests entered into a "round arched vestibule" wainscoted in "marble in beautiful tints," as described by The New York Times, and the walls were frescoed. On either side were the reception room and a cafe, "both of them large and handsomely-decorated saloons [i.e., rooms]." The vestibule led to the "main hall" and the courtyard, around which the principal ground floor rooms were arranged. The courtyard featured a fountain surrounded with "growing flowers and tropical plants." The result, said the writer, was "an effect similar to the interiors of the most celebrated structures of this class in Florence, Paris, and Madrid." Interior balconies at the second floor were available to all residents from which to enjoy the courtyard's afternoon and evening music.
Residential hotels differed from apartment buildings in that the suites did not have kitchens. Guests, who signed months- or years-long leases, ate in a large communal dining room, similar to an elegant restaurant. All the amenities of a transient hotel (like maid service, for instances) were provided by the management.
Also on the ground floor were four private dining rooms, two each on either side of the courtyard. "From the Florentine galleries that separate the private dining rooms from the court yard, the main dining room in the back of the building is reached," said the article. The reporter deemed it, "one of the handsomest dining halls in the country." Engulfing the entire 125-foot width of the building, it was visually broken up by "mural arches" that gave the impression of three rooms "thrown into one." The Times said, "The ornamentation of this room is in the highest form of the frescoer's art." (The article mentioned that King had hired "one of the best chefs of Paris.")
The walls of the first floor rooms were decorated with hand-decorated Louis XV-style panels. The private dining room walls, however, were covered in silk and the furnishings were "in the style of the empire." The motif was carried into the two oval elevators, which were "finished in gold and Vernis Martin, with painted panels and Louis XV decorations."
The New York Times, October 6, 1891 (copyright expired)
Each of the apartments looked onto the courtyard. The New York Times explained, "Each suite is entered from the hall through a private vestibule, thus insuring perfect privacy for all."
The Hotel Renaissance opened on October 1, 1891. It was patronized by some of Manhattan's wealthiest citizens, either as their permanent city residence or during the winter season. Among them were James and Sarah Roosevelt and their son, Franklin. In her Franklin and Eleanor, An Extraordinary Marriage, Hazel Rowley writes:
Franklin and his parents (accompanied by servants and tutors) spent time in New York City, where they had an apartment at the Renaissance Hotel, on West Forty-third Street.
C. Grayson Martin purchased the Hotel Renaissance following David H. King Jr.'s death in April 1916. He quickly swapped it with George N. and Julius Black for the X. Y. Ranch in Colorado. On January 17, 1917, The New York Sun said the 5,000-acre X. Y. Ranch was "one of the best known ranches in the West." The value of the Hotel Renaissance was estimated at $1 million, or about $24.5 million in 2026.
The Black brothers closed the Hotel Renaissance and leased the property to the Columbia University Club, which had been located at Gramercy Park for more than a decade. The club hired architects Henry F. Hornbostel, Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison, and Alger C. Gildersleeve to convert the hotel to a clubhouse.
A year and "more than $100,000" later, almost to the day, The New York Times reported on January 27, 1918 that the renovations were completed and the opening would be celebrated by a dinner on February 7. It said the architects had "transformed it into one of the best-equipped clubs in the Forty-second Street club centre."
The New York Herald explained that the upper floors now contained 104 rooms "for members who wish to live at the club." There were also exercising rooms, baths, and four squash courts on the roof. The "immense dining room," said the article, which was designed by Hornbostel, "is in simple white stone, with great light brackets in silver and a frieze that includes some paintings of scenes of the Columbia campus as it is to-day and was in the days of Hamilton." (The frieze was executed by muralist James M. Hewlett.) Also on the ground floor were "lunch rooms and private dining rooms," according to the New York Herald. A large library on the second floor could also be used for meetings.
photo by Anthony Bellov
College life throughout America was disrupted by the country's entry into World War I. On April 5, 1918, a service flag was raised above the clubhouse and on November 10 that year, the university's president, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler and Major Herbert C. Earnshaw, Commandant of the Students' Army Training Camp, spoke here. "The war activities of the college will be the subject," announced The New York Times.
Shortly after the end of the war another issue--Prohibition--would rock the organization. On the "first bone-dry prohibition day," as worded by The New York Times, an announcement informed members "that afternoon tea will now be a feature of the club's gayeties." The article then reported on a serious side effect of the law's enactment. "Prohibition...has also made it necessary to practically double the annual dues."
Prohibition crippled the finances of hotels, clubs and restaurants. The condition was no doubt a major factor in the club's decision to alter the ground floor to provide additional income. On October 1, 1922, the New York Herald reported, "The Columbia University Club will install stores in the club property...All but 25 of the 125 feet of frontage of their building will be changed on the grade floor into business use." The practical renovation unfortunately greatly decimated Luce's Italian palazzo design.
Over the years, the Columbia University Club was home to distinguished alumni. Among them were prominent architect Henry Rutgers Marshall; poet, novelist and editor Henry Morton Robinson; and retired Brigadier General Rodney Hamilton Smith.
One of the most colorful residents was William Cullen Bryant Kemp, described on the Columbia campus as the "perpetual student." As a young man, Kemp was attending Columbia when his uncle left him $2,500 a year "as long as he remained at school." (The income would equal about $50,000 a year today.) He took the wording seriously and earned his first degree, a Bachelor of Arts, in 1868. He continued to matriculate at Columbia, earning a list of degrees that included A.M., M.D., LL.M., LL.B, Ph.D., C.E., E.E., Mechanical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Engineering, and a B.S. Kemp was living here on February 3, 1929 when he died at the age of 79.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services
In 1922, although Prohibition was still in effect, the Columbia University Club hired Irish-born Michael J. Dunne as its head bartender (presumably dispensing sodas, iced tea and such). Although his only education was from an Irish primary school, he was a voracious reader. The New York Times remarked that he, "could converse on a variety of topics with the many men of distinction who patronized his bar."
The members called Dunne "Serjeant," the title bestowed only on the highest class of barristers in England. In 1960, author Henry Morton Robinson presided over a "large gathering in the club," as described by The New York Times, during which Dunne received the degree of D.D.L.," Doctor of Delectable Libations, and a scroll.
The following year, Dunn visited his birthplace, Engfield, County Meath, Ireland. On his trip he became ill. He made it back home before dying at the age of 71 on August 15, 1961. He had held his position at the club for 39 years.
On February 13, 1973, the club's board of governors voted unanimously to sell the 43rd Street building. John Reeves, the group's president, explained that the maintenance "had become too expensive for the needs of the 1,500 members." The club moved into the Princeton Club at 15 West 43rd Street.
The former Columbia University Club building sat vacant for slightly more than two years before a buyer was found. On May 7, 1975, The New York Times reported, "The Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church has purchased the former Columbia University Club building at 4 West 43d Street for use as its American headquarters." The church had paid $1.2 million (about $7 million today) for the property. A spokesperson said, "the upper floors would be used to house about 50 staff members and their families.
photo by Anthony Bellov
The Holy Spirit Association-Unification of World Christianity continues to use the building for its headquarters. It, additionally, offers rental offices to non-profit organizations, and large spaces for events.
many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post
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