The 1917 Grolier Club - 47 East 60th Street

Whitlaw Reid was editor of the New-York Tribune when he attended the first gathering of eight erudite men in the home of Robert Hoe on the evening of January 23, 1884.  Like Reid and Hoe, they were mostly involved in publishing and printing.  The new group called itself the Grolier Club, named after Jean Grolier de Servieres, a 16th century French book collector.  Reid's newspaper explained, "They talk of books and nothing but books--editions, dates, printers, bookbinders, illustrations, book plates, autographs."

The original membership of eight would grow prodigiously.  In 1890, the club moved into an impressive structure at 29 East 32nd Street, designed by Charles W. Romeyn.  That, too, would eventually become insufficient.  In 1916, two high-stooped brownstones at 47  and 49 East 60th Street were acquired and Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue was commissioned to design the Grolier's third home.

Goodhue was better known for his ecclesiastical designs.  In fact, his latest, the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, was under construction on Lexington Avenue at the time.  As Romeyn had done, Goodhue gave the clubhouse a domestic tenor, able to slip inconspicuously into the still residential neighborhood.  His restrained, neo-Georgian design included a sumptuous marble entrance with fluted pilasters, and a cartouche and swags over the arched transom.

Faced in red Flemish bond brick, the building's 18th century motif included a delicate, full-width iron balcony at the second floor, layered keystones at the third, and a marble cornice above the fourth.  The fifth floor was unexpectedly stoic.

When the club opened in 1917, it was flanked by high-end private residences.  photograph by Wurts Bros., from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

Construction was completed early in December 1917 at a cost of $129,348.22 (just under $2.7 million in 2025).  The New York Times tepidly called Goodhue's building "attractive," adding that it would provide, "better facilities for members and the large library of works on the art of printing than were available in the old home."

Even before officially moving into its new headquarters, the Grolier Club staged an exhibition.  On December 7, The New York Times reported, "To commemorate the completion of the Grolier Club's new home at 47 and 49 East Sixtieth Street...an exhibition of books and miniatures from Persia and the Levant was opened yesterday."

With World War I raging in Europe, on December 13 The Sun reported, "Five new workrooms were opened yesterday by the American Fund for French Wounded to meet the rush of women volunteer workers on surgical dressings."  Among the five locations were the new Grolier Club.

The Grolier Club Report, April 1918 (copyright expired)

At the first official meeting of the club within its new home, president Arthur H. Scribner described, "a club-house ideally suited to our requirements in location, spaciousness and architectural beauty, while retaining enough of the feeling of our old club-house to put us at once at home."

The Exhibition Hall (above) and Library.  The American Printer, June 5, 1925.

Although the membership of the Grolier was composed only of Caucasian males, Troy H. Hinton, was an integral cog in the workings of the Grolier Club.  Born in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1859, he arrived in New York City in 1883.  According to The New York Age on January 18, 1930, "During most of this time he was employed as the steward of the Grolier Club, a wealthy white organization."  After serving the club for nearly half a century, Hinton died on January 7, 1930.

The first Black member of the Grolier Club was not alive when Hinton died.  Herbert H. Johnson was born in 1936.  A book designer for major publishers, he became an educator and curator of the Melbert B. Cary Collection of the Rochester Institute of Technology.  He amassed a personal collection that focused on book design and typography.  On April 15, 1970, the Grolier Club opened an exhibition titled, "Bruce Rogers: Sixty Years of Book Design."  (Bruce Rogers had been a member of the Grolier.)  The exhibition was curated by Herbert H. Johnson.  According to Bruce and Mary Crawford and Scott Ellwood, club curators, "a few days before the show opened, [member John M.] Crawford sent the first letter nominating Johnson to membership."

By the early 1960s, the original membership of eight had grown to 600.  In May 1964, in celebration of the club's 80th anniversary, the members held an auction at the Park-Bernet Galleries.  The New York Times reported, "about 185 members donated rarities from the 15th to the 20th century."  The article said, "The auction raised $76,385 for renovation of the club's building at 47 East 60th Street."

The regular exhibitions at the Grolier Club fascinated New Yorkers throughout the decades.  One, perhaps, stood out.  On April 21, 1971, The New York Times reported that a Mayan relic, part of the "Ancient Mayan Caligraphy" exhibition, "is expected to throw new light on the religion and astrological philosophy of the ancient Mayan culture of Mexico and Central America."  The codex, "which is composed of bark cloth," was hailed by Dr. Michael D. Coe of Yale University as, "an important find...that furnishes us with additional pictorial information on the Venus calendar and its influence on Mayan religion and astrology."  He called the fragment, "nothing less than a miracle" that it had survived.

A $4.6 million renovation to the Grolier Club's interiors was completed in 2018.  Designed by Ann Beha Architects, it preserved Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue's integrity, while bringing the club's functionality into the 21st century.  On January 17, 2019, Jennifer Schuessler of The New York Times wrote, "Last month it celebrated the centennial of its Georgian-style building and the renovation of its ground-floor exhibition hall."  

The renovated Exhibition Hall, photograph by Ann Beha Architects.

The Grolier Club members continue to be passionate book lovers, and New Yorkers still gravitate to its dignified clubhouse to absorb its regular exhibitions.

photographs by the author