The 1927 Three Arts Club - 340 West 85th Street

 

photo by Greghenderson2006

In the last decades of the 19th century, a wave of independent-minded women changed New York City's workforce.  No longer restricted to nurses, school teachers and domestics, young women came to the city to take new positions like "typewriters" and stenographers.  In response, hotels for single working women began cropping up throughout the city.  They offered single women a safe environment, friendship, and affordable accommodations. 

In 1902, Jane Harris Hall, a deaconess of the Protestant Episcopal Church, took the concept a step further.  She recognized another group of women who traveled to New York City alone--those not seeking employment, but artistic education.  Based on the American Girls' Club in Paris, she founded the Three Arts Club for female students in the drama, fine arts, and musical fields.  The club opened in an old brownstone, and in its March 1905 issue, The Designer explained:

Under its roof may be had, for the nearly nominal sum of from three to five dollars a week, all the advantages of the usual club life, together with the important addition of the comforts and privileges of home; for the new club house, on the sunniest corner of Sixty-second street and Lexington Avenue, combines both club and living-rooms within its four-story brownstone walls.

On November 27, 1909, The New York Times reported that the Three Arts Club had purchased the six-story apartment house at 338-340 West 85th Street.  Twenty-seven years later, the renovated apartment house was no longer adequate.  On June 15, 1926, the officers announced that the building would be demolished and replaced.

Architect George B. de Gersdorff designed an eight-story Colonial Revival-style structure faced in red brick and trimmed in limestone.  Completed in 1927 at a cost of $400,000 (about $7.2 million in 2026), its tripartite design focused on utility rather than ornament.  

The centered, arched entrance was flanked by engaged columns with palm leaf capitals that upheld an entablature that announced "The Three Arts Club."  A stone architrave around the window directly above it and a wrought iron, colonial-style railing created a faux balcony.  The upper two sections were unadorned other than stone keystones at the second and eighth floors.

photograph by Greghenderson2006

Inside were accommodations for 153 students.  Wealthy benefactors had generously donated to the structure.  Frederick W. Vanderbilt donated the Louise Anthony Vanderbilt Library in memory of his wife, and the club's president, Mrs. John Henry Hammond (the former Emily Vanderbilt Sloane), gave the club "the little theatre and assembly room with lounge and balcony," according to The New York Times.  Marcia Tucker, wife of millionaire Carll Tucker, "gave the studio or aerial work shop, reached from the eighth floor, where the elevator stops, by a stairway," said the newspaper.  "There is also sufficient room on the roof for a garden and sleeping porch."

As construction drew to an end, on March 19, 1927, The New York Evening Post reported that the Three Arts Club, "expects to formally open its large new building June 1."  The article praised, "The splendid work which the club has accomplished in giving a comfortable and inexpensive home to the young art students who come to New York is well known throughout the country."

The targeted completion date was optimistic and the understated, formal opening took place on November 17.  Among the six speakers who gave "five-minute addresses," according to The New York Times, was the club's founder, Jane Harris Hall; the building's architect, George B. de Gersdorff; and conductor and composer Walter Damrosch.  The guest of honor was operatic diva Emma Calvé.  Following the dedication, tea was served in the large dining room in the basement.

Maria Tucker's "aerial work shop" on the roof can be seen this 1940 photograph.  photographer unknown, via www.nyc.gov

In addition to being a place to live, the Three Arts Club was a venue in which to exhibit the work of its residents.  The theater, for instance, was where members staged a Christmas play, The Nativity of the Manger, in 1929.  And every year an art exhibition was held.   

The club also held events for the residents.  On December 31, 1934, for instance, The New York Sun reported that teacher and author Harriet Ayer Seymour "will give a course of four free lectures on adult education in music at the Three Arts Club."  And on April 13, 1937 the newspaper reported on the "bridge party and fashion show to be held in the ballroom of the club."

Residents (one shockingly smoking a cigarette) enjoy the "roof garden" in 1940.  photographer unknown, via www.nyc.gov

When the Three Arts Club opened in 1927, The New York Times had remarked that it had a "long waiting list."  Nothing had changed on August 13, 1946, when the newspaper reported that it was completely filled and, "The director...estimates that she has turned away 1,000 girls in the last three months."

The changing mores in the post-World War II years was reflected in a notice in the Columbia Spectator on October 28, 1949.  "The 'Three Arts Club' has extended an invitation to Columbia men to come to an informal dance to be held Saturday night at 340 West 85th Street."  The thought of men milling about in the clubhouse would, no doubt, have prostrated Jane Harris Hall in 1902.  (She would have been even more disturbed to know that the event lasted until 1 a.m.)

Three years later, on July 8, 1952, The New York Times reported that the Three Arts Club, "which for nearly half a century has served as a nonprofit residence for women students of the drama, music and fine arts, will close as of Sept. 1."  The article said the board of managers "will try to sell the eight-story clubhouse."

Their attempts were successful and in November 1952 the building was sold.  The new owners converted the building to the Brandon Residence for Women, catering to students and working women.  But, as had been the case with the Three Arts Clubs, women-only residences were becoming passé and the venture was short lived.

Within a year, 340 West 85th Street was the national headquarters of the Volunteers of America.  Founded in 1896 by Ballington Booth and his wife, Maud, the organization was in the building in time for its busiest time--Christmas.  On November 27, 1953, The New York Times remarked, "The army of Santa Clauses from the Volunteers of America will take over their traditional posts today alongside red chimneys on strategic sites in New York."

The donations went to good use.  On March 7, 1958, for instance, The New York Times reported that the Volunteers of America "provided aid last year for more than 79,000 persons in New York City and Westchester County."  The organization also staged used clothing drives for the needy and hired "many homeless and unemployed people to work in repairing these articles and making them available to the more unfortunate," as worded by National Field Secretary Oliver P. Strickland in March 1959.

The Volunteers of America continued to operate here until 2017, when it sold the building to the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing.  It accommodated 125 formerly homeless seniors in single-room-occupancy units.

The institution initiated a renovation in May 2026.  The conversion will result in about half of the units.  The 61 affordable studio apartments will continued to house persons over 55 years old with low income.

many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post