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Name
Originally created under the name "The Century", members often still use this name to refer to the organization. It became legally recognized as the Century Association, and its name is sometimes also seen as "the Century Club". Members of the club are referred to as "Centurions"; this was formalized after internal discussion over whether the demonym should be "Centurion" or "Centurian". The demonym is the same word as the term for an Ancient Roman army commander, the centurion, though the latter term would generally not be capitalized while the former would.

The name stems from the number of people invited to become members of the organization.

Organization and activities
The Century is administered by its Board of Management, consisting of a president, two vice presidents, a secretary, a treasurer, and trustees. The current president is Susan Morrison, the first female president of the association. There are numerous committees comprised of members, including the House Committee, Nominating Committee, Committee of Committees, Committee on Admissions, and committees for literature, music, wine, memorials, distinguished guests, honors, publications, investments, bequests, and archives. Several committees have their own traditional symbolic items, such as silver candelabras or bowls, used to decorate the table at committee meetings. The Wine Committee, which dates to the 1940s, was formally established in 1979. Another group within the club, the Sketch Club (named after the predecessor to the Century Association), is considered a revival of the original club made in the late 1980s, after a previous revival in the 1960s. The Round Table group has met for about 50 years to discuss specific topics in monthly black-tie dinners, the Digressionists is for people in one profession who are skilled at another. The American Garlic Society was another group within the club, during the 1960s and 1970s, where every course of their meals contained garlic.

There was no president until the club's incorporation in 1857; different members served as chairs each meeting. The Committee of Management held power; it was composed of two artists, authors, and amateurs. The first committee was made up of Gulian C. Verplanck, John Lloyd Stephens, Asher B. Durand, John Gadsby Chapman, David C. Colden, and Charles M. Leupp. The current Board of Management meets every month on the fourth or fifth floor.

The Century's manager maintains a staff of about 60 employees. The hallman or their assistant would typically greet guests by name, give messages, arrange dining reservations, or call taxis. The executive secretary handles the club's paperwork, including sending mailings to members, various jobs for the club's committees, and handling documents for proposed and admitted members. Clerical and accounting staff handle bills sent out to members for their monthly dues. Employees at the coatroom would know members by their coat; bartenders would by their favorite drink, and the waiters would know members' favorite entrees and desserts, and follow through on their usual special requests.

Dues are issued depending on whether a member is considered "resident" or "nonresident". Living beyond a 50-mile radius of New York City Hall and working outside of the city qualifies a member as a nonresident; those members have about half the annual dues that residents have. Residents working in the performing arts, or younger than 45, or 20-year members who are retired all can be charged as nonresidents, regardless of their residence.

The club operated year-round until around 1973, when it was suggested that the club close for three weeks in August to save costs.

The club has reciprocal arrangements with the Garrick, Athenaeum, and Reform Clubs in London, the Scottish Arts Club in Edinburgh, the Cercle de l'Union interalliée in Paris, the Cosmos Club in the District of Columbia, and the St. Botolph Club in Boston.

The club mails a publication, known as the Bulletin, to its members, containing an editorial and club announcements, and a list of proposed members. It is mailed along with invitations for upcoming events.

Club rules include a responsibility that members exclude on-duty reporters or photojournalists, and prevent mentioning lub activities in public forums. The New York Times has stated that task is difficult, as many journalists are members, including editors and writers of the Times.

Admissions-Cooper 11-15

Library
The Library, the club's main collection of books, is on the club's third floor. Offshooting from the library is the smaller Writers' Room, furnished with leather chairs and bookshelves. The room is high-ceilinged with an overall yellow-brown scheme. It has two large fireplaces and a large standing globe in the center. There are 21,000 books (still? whole collection?). Members who are authors often donate copies of their books to the Library. It is a circulating library (still?), where books can be checked out for a month at a time; six months for older works. The Library is strongest in the fields of reference, history, and art. The library oftentimes is filled with dining tables as a spillover from the dining room; otherwise, no eating is permitted.

The fourth floor contains the Platt Library, an architectural library primarily made up of the donated architectural books and pictures from architect Charles A. Platt's collection.

Gallery
The club's Exhibition Committee usually displays 9-10 exhibitions per year in the club's Art Gallery, usually consisting of the work of members. The amateur artists' show, the professional artists' exhibit, and a members' photography exhibit are among the exhibitions, beside single person or single-theme shows. In addition to the Art Gallery, the President's Room houses a smaller gallery, and artwork is also displayed among the other rooms of the club.

The amateur artists' exhibition was initially scorned by some professional artist members, though the amateurs showed that the club constitution holds amateurs equal to professionals, indicating their entitlement to holding the exhibitions. The exhibition is now considered a cherished and well-established tradition in the club.

The Century's art collection is known as the Centennial Collection. It houses mostly nineteenth- and twentieth-century American art and is the club's largest asset.

The character of works collected by the Century is peaceful and conservative, with many of young forests. As well the collection includes many portraits of members, most of whom are "grave and bearded".

James Thomas Flexner gave an account of the Century's collections, that many of the club's paintings are of the Native School of American Painting, including the Hudson River School. These painters were responsible for founding the club more than any other group, and the club was an extension of the Sketch Club, an organization of painters and "their intimates".

The collection includes two minor works of Winslow Homer: Nurse and Child, and The Painter Eliphalet Terry Fishing from a Boat, Albert Bierstadt, Guerilla Warfare, Emanuel Leutze, The Hohenstaufen. It also includes John Vanderlyn's Antiope, a copy of Antonio da Correggio's Venus and Cupid with a Satyr and his first in a series of nudes beginning in 1808,. It hangs in the East Room; its first owner found it too indecent, and it was given to the Century in 1938.

History
The Century's art collection began late; this is attributed to the founders having been preoccupied making art over collecting it. From the club's beginning, members placed their works of art on its walls and art exhibitions were held regularly. And in 1852, when the club moved into its 8th Street building, members gave works of art. In 1862, the club followed the National Academy of Design in accepting certain paintings in lieu of initiation fees. Paintings submitted under those terms around this time include Albert Bierstadt's Guerilla Warfare, Worthington Whittredge's Cauldwell's Landing on the Hudson, Edward Lamson Henry's Westover, Homer Dodge Martin's Ausable Valley, and Winslow Homer's Nurse and Child. In 1863 the club purchased paintings from seven of its members, including Kensett's Coast Scene, Durand's Bash Bish Falls. This trend of art collection continued, with a climax of a massive purchase of sculptures in 1939 and 1940, after which art purchases mostly ceased for a time. Works acquired then included Edward McCartan's bust of Henry deForest Baldwin, medals by Jon Flanagan and Paul Manship, and a pen drawing, Prometheus and terra-cotta boxes by Manship. Few items were purchased over the next 35 years, possibly due to the temporary exhibitions or due to a shift away from visual art. Around 1991, members recognized a lack of art collected in the last half of the 20th century. It prompted them to successfully revive the custom of members donating paintings in lieu of an initiation fee.

The first staff curator, Mark Davis, enlarged and modernized the Century's storage vault, and supervised a conservation campaign. A grant-in-aid around 1868. After Charles Loring Elliott in 1868, 30 members combined funds to purchase his portrait of Henry Inman.

The extensive renovations in 1991-1994? caused many paintings to be moved from their original locations. An exhibition of some of these in the club's art gallery caused several members to ask where the works came from, spurring the club's Committee on House Art to begin circulating the club's collections around the clubhouse.

Collections
General art collections? Anything non-art?-books, magazines...

The club owns a copy of the Bryant Vase, donated by Tiffany & Co. in November 1905. The Bryant Vase, a silver vessel designed by James Horton Whitehouse and manufactured by Tiffany & Co., was given to William Cullen Bryant, then president of the club, for the occasion of his 80th birthday in 1874. A committee of his friends, including 25 members of the club, commissioned the work. Two replicas were made, one for the Century, and one for Bryant's Massachusetts hometown. Bryant gave the original to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first piece of American silver to enter its collection.

The Manship bowl, a large brass punch bowl made by Paul Manship, dates to about 1926. The decorative piece, with rams' heads as handles, was commissioned by Ingalls Kimball of the House Committee immediately after destroying the previous punch bowl used by the Century.

The club owns a large number of medallions, most by and/or of members of the club. The medallions used to be housed in the clubhouse's Medal Room, though many are now located in various rooms of the clubhouse. Designers of the medals include John Flanagan, designer of the US quarter, as well as Paul Manship and Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

The club owns a 39-volume, 1777 edition of Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Samuel B. Ruggles donated the work in 1868 as the cornerstone of the club's newly-created library. His copy of the encyclopedia was originally brought to the United States by Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben.

In 1945, through a member's donation, the club acquired the personal stamp collection of US President and Centurion Franklin D. Roosevelt. As well, member Theodore E. Steinway, upon finding eight framed stamps portraying Centurions, completed a leather-bound album of every Centurion featured on a stamp, which was displayed in the club's art gallery. This led to the creation of a coin collection for those modeled by or related to members of the club.

Symbology
The Century Association's seal stems from a historic miniature column, used to begin its club meetings. One of the Century's predecessor clubs, the Column, had owned a symbolic two-foot-tall silver column with an oil lamp and laurel wreath on its capital and (originally) a scroll of the club's history within its hollow center. It was commissioned from Tiffany & Co. in 1858.

The column was to belong to the last survivor of the Column club. By 1901, the two remaining members were John Bigelow and Parke Godwin, who were also both Centurions. Instead of waiting out the other's demise, Bigelow and Godwin elected all of the then-present and future members of the Century Association to the Column on May 4, 1901. With the election of Century members, the column would belong to the last member of the Century Association.

The lamp is lit at the beginning of the club's monthly meetings, as it had in Column club meetings. The column's lamp and wreath later became the Century's seal, used on the club's stationery, cufflinks, and other items.

Culture, traditions, and attire
Saturday Nights

The "Twelfth Night" is a Century tradition, celebrated infrequently, with the production of plays in 1917 and 1933. For the event, members spend a great amount of effort and expense. The 1933 event was themed as a Roman holiday, where the clubhouse was redecorated to resemble Roman fora, a throne room, senate hall, and more. Centurions dressed in costumes of senators, civilians, foreigners, captives, or slaves. 475 Centurions participated; the crew involved included Ernest Peixotto, Augustus Vincent Tack, Paul Manship, Albert Herter, and John Huston Finley.

Its anthem is Centuria. All members are considered equal at the club, with no hierarchy like that of English clubs.

The lobby of the Century Association clubhouse has featured a metal membership board since 1922. The board has nameplates along with holes for pegs. A white peg placed alongside a name would indicate a member's presence there, a red peg would indicate that the member has left the building, and a green peg would indicate that a message, letter, or parcel is awaiting a member since their last visit. A gold peg was placed next to the name of club treasurer Henry deForest Baldwin in 1947, to remain permanently. The top of the pegboard has the inscribed poem "Envoi" by member John H. Finley, inspired by the friezes of Pegasus painted in the entablature above the pegboard in 1922. It was carved into wood by member Eric Gugler and dedicated to Finley in 1942.

The club has a signature drink, the Silversmith, always served in a silver mug. The tradition originated with members donating silver cups in honor of their departed friends. Henry Clapp Smith invented the drink, which has a rum base and shaved ice. Also among the Century's unique items is a traditional egg-based dish, called "Eggs Balch", named after Earl Henry Balch. It is a variation of Eggs Benedict, with salmon and béarnaise sauce. Macaroons have also been a signature of the Century, which had received them from Pozzo Pastry Shop from around 1948 until the bakery's closure in 2008. From 2008, after a long search, the club ended up choosing an Astoria bakery that also produces for the Knickerbocker and the Union Club in the city. The Century serves a plate of macaroons to each table after lunches and dinners.

The Long Table is significant element of Century Association culture, seen as the center of the club. Its origin lies in the club's 15th Street building, which only had one large table for dining, where members would sit at the first vacant chair. In the current clubhouse, the 24 ft table is a feature of the main dining room, and members would sit there if they did not have anyone in particular to dine with, or if they wished to speak on a topic to the surrounding members.

Attire at the Century is generally formal. Monthly meetings and dinners are black tie, except the informal June meeting. Century waistcoats are encouraged; these are made in five colors. Red is the all-purpose color, with others denoting their decade of election. Yellow indicates the 1950s, olive green for the 1960s, purple for the 1970s, blue for the 1980s, and repeating for further decades (e.g. yellow again for the 1990s). Members who forget their waistcoats or dislike the color would wear the red coat or a traditional black coat, or could wear no coat and instead the black cummerbund. Cufflinks and waistcoat buttons are engraved with a Century Association emblem.

A ship's bell in the second-floor hall rings once on the quarter hour before dinnertime and then again to announce dinner itself. The clubhouse also has small handheld bells and a bell in the bar, used to summon members to and from the monthly dinners.

The East Room on the second floor is often rearranged for concert performances, often with Centurions performing or having composed. The Christmastime concert often includes members' families. The Century also hosts a series of concerts in its West Room, known as Eine kleine Hausmusik. These events are typically monthly and include professional and avocational Century musicians. Additionally, the recently-established Century Singalong is typically held in the West Room or in spaces on the fifth floor. The fifth floor also houses At Home@the Century, a cocktail party held regularly.

Conversation, as one [of the primary functions of the club] ... Business is banned as a topic of conversation. Likewise a tradition in committee meetings is that issues are not generally hard-pressed if enough opposition exists - the meetings are meant to be "argumentative and fun", not divisive.

Cowboy pool, also known as cowboy pocket billiards, is a historical tradition of the club. Introduced by member William R. Mead, the billiards game has lost popularity, and is no longer commonly played. Up to four people play, using a special set of balls - one each of red, yellow, and blue, as well as a cue ball. Basics of the gameplay within the club: the colored balls are lined up in a row down the center of the table, and the shooter aims to hit the furthest (yellow) ball with the cue ball without disrupting either other ball. Points are scored by hitting the colored balls into the table's pockets. The rules often vary, and there are many variations to the game.

The club has had a resident cat, similar to a library cat, since the 1880s. A cat possibly named Teapot was kept at the club's fifth home in the 1880s and at the current clubhouse in the 1890s. The cat Amos was kept there from 1930 to 1946, where he was known for killing all of the mice at the club before crossing the street to what was then the Columbia Club to do the same. Amos II was kept at the club in the 1950s, and a cat known as Teapot was retired in 1993.

The club's members are known to hold onto traditions; for example, a small bread warmer possibly from the 1920s failed in 1993. Its aluminum had been patched numerous times already, and would not be fixed by New York metallurgists. Members were dissatisfied until a new member flew to Paris with it to be fixed. A Parisian metallurgist could not fix it, though they offered to duplicate its design in steel; the new warmer remains on a stand inside the dining room's fireplace[does it?].

Food was not regularly served at the club until 1885; three or four trials showed a lack of profit due to an irregular and unpredictable number of guests. Outside of the trials, monthly meetings would include buffet dinners, and raw oysters, bread, and cheese would be available at dinnertime. Some members would cook the oysters in chafing dishes. Even after the installation of a kitchen and meal services, members would mostly cook for themselves. The first dining room was created in 1891 with the construction of the Century's current clubhouse, though the kitchen was built and a chef first hired in 1926.

History
(sub-sections can be by century, historical era, or other significant events, e.g. World War II)

Membership has grown from about 200 in 1852, 250 in 1857, 570 in 1871,  (490 resident of) 579 in 1872,  1,000 in 1891 to 1,300 in 1892, to 2,100 in 1997. 1900 members in 1989 2400 in 2002 Often maintained a limit relative to the population of New York and Brooklyn (current-day New York City) at one in 2,500.

Predecessors
The Century Association has its origins in the Sketch Club, a gentleman's club in New York City. The Sketch Club was formed in 1824 by James Fenimore Cooper. The club took on several different forms and names: The Lunch, the Cooper Club, and the Bread and Cheese Club. Weekly meetings accompanying dinner were held at the homes of various of the 25 members, and were announced in a daily newspaper. The Century Association was founded as private dinners could be inconvenient to members, whereas a centrally-located space for all members at any hour, with literature and refreshments provided, was desirable. The Sketch Club had origins in a club dating to 1807, members of which were pulled back together in 1824, initially meeting at the shop of publisher Charles Wiley. The club later was given the name "Bread and Cheese Club" due to the foods being staples during the club's lunches, and as ballots for electing new candidates. Members would throw a piece of bread on a communal plate in support of a candidate, or throw in cheese if they were opposed to the candidate's election. The National Academy of Design, founded 1825, was also a predecessor of the Sketch Club. Painting in the almshouse that operated in City Hall Park, the members began inviting writers and amateurs of art around 1828, and by a year later, the eleven liberal members of the Bread and Cheese Club then joined National Academy members to form the Sketch Club.

The club known as "the Column" also merged into the newly formed Century Association. It was founded in 1825 or 1826 primarily by recent Columbia University graduates. The Column had few professional artists as members; it thus provided many of the Century Association's initial amateurs of the arts (its largest group of members).

Establishment
In a Sketch Club meeting at the home of John Gadsby Chapman in December 1846, Chapman proposed to form an association for artists, writers, and others involved in the creation of fine art. Members agreed that the association would be useful for meeting other such artists, and for welcoming strangers of distinction. At the time, New York City had few similar facilities for artists.

At the next meeting, on January 8, 1847, a list of 100 members was presented to the group, to be the founding members of the Century Association. The first meeting of the new organization was set for January 13, 1847 in the Rotunda, a building at Manhattan's Civic Center which was occupied by the New York Gallery of Fine Arts at the time. Six people attended this meeting: artists Chapman, Asher B. Durand, Charles Cromwell Ingham, and Francis William Edmonds; arts merchant Abraham M. Cozzens, and author and art critic Henry T. Tuckerman.

The January 13 meeting established a constitution, and attorney Edgar S. Van Winkle suggested the name "The Century", which was also approved. The constitution established membership composition of "authors, artists, and amateurs of letters and the fine arts, residents of the city of New York and vicinity". It also established the organization's purpose for "the cultivation of a taste for letters and the fine arts, and social enjoyment". There were 42 founding members, including 25 members of the Sketch Club and 10 members of the Column Club. The 42 included, as recorded, ten artists, ten merchants, four authors, three men of leisure, three physicians, three bankers, two clergymen, two lawyers, one editor, and one diplomatist.

The club's first regular meetings were held monthly at 495 Broadway, in Lower Manhattan's present-day SoHo neighborhood. Rooms were rented at a rate of $650 per year there until 1849, when the club began renting a house nearby at 435 Broome Street. After remaining there for a year, the club began gradually moving uptown, beginning with its rental of 575 Broadway in mid-1850. After two years, it rented a four-story brick building at 46 E 8th Street (then 24 Clinton Place). In 1857, the club moved further uptown with its first property acquisition. It purchased 42 E 15th Street (later renumbered 109-111 E 15th Street), a building slightly east of Union Square, for $24,000. In 1883, a resolution to purchase land for a new clubhouse on 38th Street failed. In April 1889, the Century authorized a maximum of $150,000 to hire the firm McKim, Mead & White in designing a clubhouse on land recently purchased on 43rd Street.

After its initial meeting in the rotunda, the club was housed in six different locations. 495 Broadway in 1847-1849, 435 Broome from 1849-1850, 575 Broadway from 1850-1852, 24 Clinton Place (today 46 E 8th) from 1852-1857, 42 E 15th (today 109 E 15th) from 1857-1891, and the current location, 7 W 43rd, from 1891 to the present.

On March 7, 1857, the club was incorporated by special act of the New York legislature, with the name "The Century Association" and a purpose of the promotion of art and literature through the establishment of a reading room, library, and art gallery. A more formal and detailed constitution was adopted at this time, and a formal governance. The club also purchased its 15th Street clubhouse in this year, and president Gulian C. Verplanck proposed the club put on a show of the Twelfth Night in celebration.

Further events
During the American Civil War, members were divided over politics, although all were reported to agree on the preservation of the Union. he club allowed for the use of its building to further the war effort, including becoming the headquarters for the United States Sanitary Commission (which was founded and led entirely by Centurions). Numerous Centurions served in the fighting, including Adam Badeau, Thomas Lincoln Casey, Samuel W. Crawford, Francis V. Greene, John Newton, Horace Porter, George Haven Putnam, William T. Swinburne,  and George E. Waring, among others. Centurions James S. Wadsworth, Peter A. Porter, and Fitz James O'Brien died in battle. Also due to the war, the club's elections in 1964 led to George Bancroft's presidency, as the former Gulian C. Verplanck was noted as one of the harshest critics of Lincoln's administration of the Union.

For William Cullen Bryant's 70th birthday, on November 5, 1864, 400 to 500 people celebrated at the clubhouse, which was decorated for the event. He was among the most notable poets in the United States at the time, and at the height of his fame. President Bancroft invited leading US authors to create a written tribute to Bryant, and members of the club gave about 50 new paintings to him, including by the most distinguished artists at the time - Durand, Kensett, Huntington, Eastman Johnson, Church, and Bierstadt. Prominent speakers at the event included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Huntington. The event prompted the Century to compose The Bryant Festival at "The Century" (published by D. Appleton & Company in 1865), which is considered to use the earliest dust jacket in the United States.

In 1867, Bancroft resigned to take an extended trip to Europe; William Cullen Bryant became the next president. In this year, the library was also created, to house books on art and literature, as well as reference books and encyclopedias. In 1875, after a committee and club-wide vote, the club began charging resident dues to nonresident members; they previously were exempt from any dues. This was repealed in 1880, though by 1892, dues were reestablished for nonresident members, at half the resident rate. Around this time, more people from other cities, states, and countries became members due to decreased or lack of dues; the club history records it as the time when the club graduated from being a New York institution and became a national one.

In 1880 and 1883, several proposals were made and voted on for the club to move uptown; none passed. By the late 1880s, moving was the subject of debate at every meeting among other occasions. The surrounding neighborhoods were being emptied of stores, theaters, and clubs, and the 15th Street clubhouse was seen as too small with no room to expand, with no gallery and small and dark rooms, and located on a narrow street near a boarding stable, among other concerns. Other members found moving would send the club into debt, raising dues and forcing out poor artists and writers, changing the club's spirit. By 1888, those in favor of moving won out, and members of the Board of Management were selected to find a new location between Fourth and Sixth Avenues and 34th and 45th Streets, with a resolution not to change the nature of the club, especially by excluding lower-income candidates. By 1891, annual dues and the admission fee nevertheless increased 38% and 50%, respectively.

In 1889, the club purchased the property for their new clubhouse for $150,000, with a front footage of 100 feet. The club reported that unlike conservative members feared, no members signed and the character of the club and of its admitted members remained the same.

1896, the club held its 50th anniversary celebration, with a dinner where notable Centurions spoke. In 1898, the Spanish–American War broke out, and several Centurions served, including French Ensor Chadwick and Theodore Roosevelt. Its history was written by Centurions Chadwick and Alfred T. Mahan.

20th century
On May 4, 1901, The Column's symbolic column was given to the Century in a solemn ceremony. In 1902, the club "the Brook" was created by Centurions who desired 24-hour club service; the American Academy of Arts and Letters was another offshoot soon after, in 1904.

In 1914, World War I began, and the large amount of high-class German members of the club caused the war to be a sensitive topic there, although it was noted that nearly every member supported the Allies in the war. By the time the US entered the war, some members proposed expelling any pro-German members, though their resolution was not approved. On February 2, 1917, the club officially proclaimed its support for the Allied cause. Later that year, the club celebrated its 70th anniversary with a showing of their play "Twelfth Night". The festival hall for the event was at the ballroom of the Hotel Sherry on Fifth Avenue and 44th Street; a covered bridge was connected from the hotel to the rear of the Century clubhouse for the occasion. By April 1917, the US entered the war and 134 Centurions served, about 11 percent of the membership; three died in action. Additionally, 398 Centurions supported the war effort as civilians.

In the late 1980s, a controversy arose among members, known within the club as the "War of the Curtain". When the clubhouse had opened in 1891, a curtain was installed to separate the library from the third floor landing. It would be kept shut, especially at lunchtime, allowing readers more privacy. Some members tried to have the curtain kept open, to allow for the members to enjoy more of their McKim, Mead & White-designed surroundings during lunchtime. Some diners preferred the curtain closed, for more privacy. Members actively using the library, especially members of the Committee on Literature, supported a closed curtain, and tried to argue that the architects had intended for a beautiful library, less disturbed by diners; they also claimed that the firm had included the curtain in their design. In 1986, the club's House Committee sent the curtain for a badly-needed cleaning, and it had reportedly disintegrated at the dry cleaner's, and did not reappear. Members of the Literature Committee doubted the report, and some began looking for a new curtain. These types of minor disputes taken seriously among club members are seen as emblematic of the Century's culture.

21st century
A 2002 proposal to expand the fifth floor and add a sixth floor with fifteen guest bedrooms for $6.5 million, provoked debate. Management supported the plan as it would provide a much-needed source of income. Some members found the debt incurred would be too great, as would a construction time of two years. Other members did not desire hotel-like operations occurring within the club.

In 2007, the club sold the air rights to the space above it. At the time, Centurion Byron Bell was the club's architect in residence.

Early homes
The club's fourth home, on 8th Street, was first occupied by them in 1852. Henry L. Pierson supervised the move-in, and used his collection of copies of casts of the works of Bertel Thorvaldsen to adorn the rooms. Other members gave similar artworks to decorate. It was kept like a residential home on the first floor, and with the oil paintings and small tables.

42 East 15th Street
see Duffy p. 16-7, Cooper p. 76-7

The building, a half-block east of Union Square, was purchased for $24,000. The architect member Joseph C. Wells was commissioned to oversee alterations to the building, which cost $11,000.

In the 1850s and 60s, the clubhouse was in the midst of other arts institutions, with the Academy of Music and theaters nearby, along with mansions on Irving Place and Centurions' homes on Gramercy Park. Many of these places began to move north on Broadway or on Fifth Avenue up to Central Park beginning in the 1860s and seen prominently in the 1880s; the club then considered moving again.

Current location
The building is next to the Princeton Club of New York and across the street from the Manufacturers Trust Company Building. Directly across the street was the Columbia University Club of New York, which was purchased by the Unification Church.-find all cites

costs, opening, electrics, elevator Beside renovations and additions, most of the clubhouse remains as it was in 1891. This includes a large amount of furniture, some of which was purchased, some designed by the architects, and some of which is in the same location it was originally installed.

Exterior
The building's light facade employs a variety of materials, including granite, metal, terra cotta, brick, and three types of marble. It has a large variety of architectural elements: arches, slit windows, a Venetian window, a balcony, a balustrade, and decorative gargoyles, Roman numerals, scrolls, and wreaths. The very top of the building has a large stone ball resembling a hot-air balloon. The Century Association archivist equated the facade to a gleaming wedding cake, with the features blending, giving it a joyous appearance. He described the assortment of elements as representative of the club itself: with variety, idiosyncrasy, and improbability, yet altogether a "harmonious flowing together of so many streams".

McKim prepared the plan for the building, and White took over the design from there. Joseph M. Wells designed the details of the facade, using the Palazzo della Cancelleria for inspiration. Designing in Palazzo style architecture was popular at the time, and McKim, Mead, and White was the most famous practitioner of the style.

Its main entrance features a large wooden double door. It is relatively unique in that the active door is on the left (the lefthand leaf must be opened first instead of the righthand leaf). It acts, to a casual observer, as an indicator whether the visitor is a guest or new member, or instead a seasoned member of the organization.

The building has a prominent central Venetian window. It was originally a loggia, which was authorized to be enclosed by McKim, Mead & White in June 1955. For a time, the loggia was previously neglected except by pigeons, and became useful upon enclosure.

In 1946-47, Lawrence Grant White (son of Stanford White) created plans to redesign parts of the building, including constructing a fifth floor and outdoor terrace, and turning the club libraries into dining rooms, with the present dining room becoming a board room.

From 1991 to 1994, the clubhouse underwent a major renovation of about $7 million. The controversial sale of William Sidney Mount's 1847 painting The Power of Music funded about half of the renovation's cost; the remaining stemmed from gifts and a bank loan. Architect members provided the design, including Byron Bell, also acting as construction supervisor. The alterations were designed to be largely unnoticeable, such that floors, walls, and ceilings were replaced without members noticing a change. An additional effort was the construction of an additional five-story building behind the existing clubhouse, filling in space that was unoccupied prior. The new structure would allow for a new elevator, bathrooms, and other rooms.

Interior
Most of the interior is used as a library, housing different parts of the club's collections. The art collection and dining space also overlap into many rooms, as seen in the club's previous locations.

The entrance hall includes a reception desk, a coatroom, and the traditional pegboard, where it would be indicated which members were present in the building. The washroom on that floor includes a shower and changing room. [not seen yet] Next to the entrance hall lies the Visitors' Room (formerly known as the Strangers' Room), where guests wait to meet a member, and east of that is the President's Room, a small art gallery. The floor also houses offices, where mail is held, and where the club's secretary, accounting staff, and the manager and banquet manager work.

A flight below the entrance hall leads to the billiards room, originally housing six pool and billiards tables. Contemporarily, the room is often used as a private dining room, or for housing special events. The club's wine cellar is located in its basement, directly underneath the sidewalk outside the building.

The mezzanine floor houses the club's art gallery, which features temporary exhibitions. The space is used to house many of the club's monthly meetings, though some with larger attendance are held in the East Room. On many Saturday mornings, the space is used by the Sketch Club [5th floor now?], named after the predecessor to the Century Association. This current group often uses the space to sketch models. It is also used for dances, wine tastings, and occasional costume balls.

The club has two elevators. One leads to all of the main floors, opening on one side. The other elevator opens on two sides, and stops at additional places between the main floors. Its brass control panel has an engraving of a cross-section of the building for direction, and contains elements from the club's original manual oak-paneled elevator. The original elevator then served as a telephone booth in the lobby for the next 30 years.

The second floor includes the clubhouse's bar, which is often claimed as the smallest of any major club in the world. It had its origins as a pantry, converted to a bar during the Prohibition era. It was redesigned by Walker O. Cain, has a Latin inscription on its east rail: "Siste popator, angelus non angelus haec statumina dedit. Si monumentum requiris, incumbe." [now Para Lost, wrote down] The bar was originally in the club's dining room. The bar is decorated with several items: a many-tiered bronze gong, a bronze turtle, the first bottle of wine served there since the Prohibition era, and the 1854 lithograph Temperance, but no Maine Law. A larger and newer bar exists off of the billiards room.

The floor also contains a landing, the West Room, and East Room. The landing prominently features a bust of George Washington by Hiram Powers. The West Room is highly decorated with Hudson River School landscapes. The East Room, one of the largest in the club, has Durand's Kaaterskill Clove among other paintings. [Painting names and locations are included here]. It has bookshelves, chairs, and a chess table [chess not present]. It also contains a large stack of global magazines, as the club subscribes to about 100 periodicals [on shelves only?]. Adjacent to the East Room is a small room dedicated to William Cullen Bryant, president of the club from 1868-1878. The room features the small paintings members created and donated to the poet on his 70th birthday in 1864. The room's window looks down upon a portion of the Art Gallery [look again, and look at Cooper 102-3].

The third floor contains the Main Dining Room, which houses the club's traditional long table, as well as other tables, all solely for members of the club. Its interior is wood-paneled, with a large stone fireplace mantle at one end. Along the north wall hangs a medieval tapestry depicting decapitation. The other walls feature portraits, including overlooking the head of the table, where there is a portrait of Royal Cortissoz by Louis Betts.

The floor also contains three more dining areas and the room known as the Library. The dining areas, a spillover from the main dining room with the advent of more members at the club, are the Loggia (informally known as the Birdcage), the James Lorimer Graham Library [possibly no longer there/named], and a foyer leading to the library. Offshooting from the library is the smaller Writers' Room, furnished with leather chairs and bookshelves. The library, which oftentimes is filled with dining tables as a spillover from the dining room, otherwise no eating is permitted. The room is high-ceilinged with an overall yellow-brown scheme. It has two large fireplaces and a large standing globe in the center. There are 21,000 books (still? whole collection?). Members who are authors often donate copies of their books to the library. It is a circulating library (still?), where books can be checked out for a month at a time; six months for older works. The library is strongest in the fields of reference, history, and art.

The Loggia was enclosed immediately after World War II by Lawrence G. White (son of Stanford White) and Walker O. Cain, partially because the dining area needed more space.

The fourth floor contains the Platt Library, an architectural library primarily made up of the donated architectural books and pictures from architect Charles A. Platt's collection. It also contains a private dining room and a large dividable room, with half named the William Bryant Room and the other the Cullen Bryant Room; the rooms once contained the Bryant collection, since moved to the second floor music room. The octagonal Drawing Room is located off of the William Bryant Room.

The fifth floor has an enfilade of three rooms spanning the width of the building east to west. The west room has a large and bright skylight, and is now used by the Sketch Club and the middle room has dark wood panelling, resembling third-floor rooms. A hallway includes a glass case for historical displays created by the archivist.

Century Association Archives Foundation
Associated with the club is the independent organization the Century Association Archives Foundation. The organization preserves historical accounts and records of the Century Association. It has held 501(c)(3) status since 1998, and is headed by Executive Director Timothy DeWerff. The archives hold the basic records of the club, including minutes of its monthly meetings, as well as minutes of the meetings of the Board of Management and many committees. It also includes written memorials and portrait photographs of members, written pieces about the club, and its publications.

The club's archives were officially established in 1938, under Archivist Rodman Gilder, son of Richard Watson Gilder. The foundation itself holds its origins in the 1980s, when Willard R. Espy rediscovered the club's archived collections. The files were stored in a dark and damp section of the clubhouse basement; Espy had them moved to a dry and well-lit maid's room on the roof. The room had no insulation, leading the documents to be damaged by the cold dry winters and hot and humid summers that are typical of New York. The first archivist of the Archives Foundation discovered the archives there and reconveyed them to a new air-conditioned and insulated room in the basement.

The foundation's former and longtime archivist, Russell Flinchum, was notably involved in restoring a Harry Bertoia sculpture to its original location. Flinchum spread word that the sculpture had been removed from its site at the Manufacturers Trust Company Building, a building across the street from the Century Association clubhouse.

Notable members
Gilded Age millionaires and family members have included John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his sons John III, Nelson, and David Rockefeller; Cornelius Vanderbilt II, Cornelius Vanderbilt III, and George Washington Vanderbilt II;, John Jacob Astor III and William Waldorf Astor,  and J. P. Morgan. Roosevelt family members included Alfred Roosevelt, Emlen Roosevelt, Joseph Willard Roosevelt, Constance Rogers Roosevelt, Cornelius Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, James Roosevelt Roosevelt, James Roosevelt I, Nicholas Roosevelt, Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Sr., James West Roosevelt, James Alfred Roosevelt, and Silas Weir Roosevelt.

Prominent artists have included Albert Bierstadt, Asher B. Durand, Henry Kirke Brown (the only sculptor among the founders ), Frederic Church, Winslow Homer, William Cullen Bryant, John Singer Sargent, Henry T. Tuckerman, John Frederick Kensett, and Worthington Whittredge. Sculptors have included Herbert Adams, Karl Bitter, Alexander Stirling Calder, James Earle Fraser, Daniel Chester French, Lee Lawrie, Paul Manship, R. Tait McKenzie, Lorado Taft, John Quincy Adams Ward, and Adolph Alexander Weinman. The club traditionally favored conservative artists in its membership, and as an example, Impressionist and especially Post-Impressionist members have been rare.

In the area of architecture: Henry Bacon, Marcel Breuer, Arthur Brown Jr., Walker O. Cain (also the club's resident architect), Ralph Adams Cram, Cass Gilbert, Bertram Goodhue, Richard Morris Hunt, William F. Lamb, Frederick Law Olmsted, Bruce Price, James Renwick Jr., and Calvert Vaux. As well, all of the partners of Carrère and Hastings, McKim, Mead & White, and York and Sawyer were members.

All historical presidents of the Metropolitan Museum of Art were Centurions, save for Rhinelander, Coffin, Blumenthal, and Weiss; the first seven directors of the museum were also club members.

Impact
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was conceived within the Century Association. The fifty-member Provisional Committee formed to create the museum was primarily made up of Centurions. These men drafted the plans for the museum at meetings in the club's 15th Street clubhouse and at the home of Samuel P. Avery in 1869.

Manhattan's Bryant Park features the William Cullen Bryant Memorial, a sculpture by Centurions Herbert Adams and Thomas Hastings. The Century originally planned to place a bust of William Cullen Bryant in Central Park, though John Bigelow suggested a full statue. In 1883, the club created a committee with Bigelow, John H. Gourlie, and Thomas Hicks to ensure the placement of the statue.

In the late 1880s, Centurions Edward Eggleston, George Haven Putnam, and Robert Underwood Johnson led an effort to convince the US Congress to enact an international copyright law; they also created or joined the American Copyright League to do so. The Century also went on record in approval of such a law, later passed as the International Copyright Act of 1891.

Two trees in the Calaveras groves were given names relating to the club; one as "The Century", and one as "William Cullen Bryant" (after the notable Centurion) around 1865.

The St. Botolph Club in Boston was modeled after the Century Association.