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 * Harvard Club of New York
 * Harvard Club of New York Building/Clubhouse of the Harvard Club of New York/House of the Harvard Club of New York/Harvard Club of New York clubhouse
 * https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/80002693.pdf
 * http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0259.pdf
 * ("Harvard club" "44th" OR "Harvard club" "forty-fourth" OR "Harvard club" "Building" OR "Harvard club" "clubhouse" or "Harvard club" "club house" or "harvard house" or "35 w. 44th" or "35 west 44th" or "35 w. forty-fourth" or "35 west forty-fourth" or "27 w. 44th" or "27 west 44th" or "27 w. forty-fourth" or "27 west forty-fourth") AND "New York" NOT ("display ad" OR "classified ad" OR "advertisement" OR "arrival of buyers")

 The Harvard Club of New York City, commonly called The Harvard Club, is a private social club located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Its membership is limited to alumni, faculty, and boardmembers of Harvard University. Incorporated in 1887, it is housed in adjoining lots at 27 West 44th Street and 35 West 44th Street, near the headquarters of numerous clubs. Members must hold a degree or honorary degree from Harvard, be a tenured faculty member, or serve as an officer, or member of a board or committee at the university.

The club's headquarters, built in 1894, was designed in the neo-Georgian style by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White. Additional rooms were added to the clubhouse in 1905 and 1915. The club was originally a men-only club but began accepting women in 1973. In 2003, the architects Davis Brody Bond, under the direction of J. Max Bond, Jr., added a 40,000-square-foot annex on 44th Street.

History
Founded without a location in 1865 by a group of Harvard University alumni, the Harvard Club of New York did not have a permanent meeting location for the next three decades. The Harvard Club opened a temporary headquarters within a townhouse on 11 West 22nd Street in 1887. Under a state law passed in December 1891, the Harvard Club was authorized to raise money for a permanent clubhouse.

Construction of a clubhouse
The Harvard Club's members voted in January 1892 to build a new clubhouse, similar to that of the Grolier Club. The club recommended a site on 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, or 52nd Street between Madison and Park Avenues. The club originally planned to build a small clubhouse, occupying a single lot of 25 by, at a cost of $60,000 to $70,000. The structure was to be known as Harvard House. By May 1892, the members had raised $30,000 for the construction of the new clubhouse. However, the club would not be able to construct a grill room or bedrooms unless it raised additional money. At the club's annual meeting the following week, members voted to raise additional funds for the clubhouse. Ultimately, the club received $72,000 in donations, which it used to fund the purchase of two lots on 44th Street. Outlook magazine said the surrounding area was still "redolent of stables" but that many of these stables were being demolished to make way for clubhouses.

In October 1893, Charles F. McKim filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings for a three-story clubhouse at 27-29 West 44th Street, which was to cost $60,000. At first, the facade of the Harvard Club was supposed to resemble that of John Harvard's house in Stratford-upon-Avon, but McKim scrapped these plans in favor of a Georgian Revival-style brick facade. By early 1894, the clubhouse was scheduled to open that May, although the opening was later delayed. The clubhouse on 44th Street opened on June 12, 1894. The building cost $114,000 and was funded partially by a $60,000 mortgage. At the time, all of the club's 700 members were men; female guests were first invited to the clubhouse in November 1894. The new clubhouse hosted events such as annual club meetings and dinners with Harvard Crimson sports teams.

1890s to 1910s
By the early 1900s, the Harvard Club had become so overcrowded that many members were forced to eat lunch in the library. In October 1900, the Harvard Club received a $30,000 loan for its clubhouse, and it created a committee to acquire property on 45th Street, behind the existing clubhouse. At its annual meeting in May 1901, the Harvard Club hired McKim, Mead & White to design a six-story annex on the 45th Street site. Four members had already bought three row houses on 26, 28, and 30 West 45th Street, though the houses' existing residents continued to live there. The Harvard Club began raising money for the new annex in October 1901 and had raised $30,000 of the $50,000 budget within two months. After the entire budget had been raised, the club voted in May 1902 to proceed with plans for the clubhouse and acquire the three row houses on 45th Street from the four club members.

McKim, Mead & White submitted plans to the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) in September 1902 for an annex on 45th Street, which was to cost $100,000. That December, a state judge gave the Harvard Club permission to mortgage its clubhouse for $300,000, which would help fund the annex's construction. In September 1904, the original clubhouse was temporarily closed so it could be connected to the annex, and Harvard Club members were allowed to stay at any of eight nearby social clubs. The expanded clubhouse reopened on December 7, 1905. By the mid-1900s, the building was valued at $700,000. The New-York Tribune said in 1907 that the clubhouse was a "veritable paradise for the hall-bedroom law clerk who was graduated at Cambridge with honors but who now must work for less than the sewer digger or the street cleaner". The Harvard Club building was one of the only social clubs in New York City with its own squash courts; as such, it hosted events such as the National Squash Tennis Championship.

Harvard Club member Thomas W. Slocum bought an adjoining three-story stable at 31 West 44th Street in February 1909, reserving the site for a future expansion of the clubhouse. Slocum also acquired three houses at 32–36 West 45th Street from the Fuller Construction Company in 1912. Later the same year, the Harvard Club received a $750,000 first mortgage for the entire property. McKim, Mead & White submitted plans for a second annex to the DOB in November 1913, which would cost $180,000. The next year, the Harvard Club issued $500,000 in bonds to its members to fund the construction of yet another annex, and it obtained a second mortgage from the Union Trust Company. At the time, the club had 4,000 members, and its membership was doubling in size approximately every ten years. The second annex opened on November 3, 1915, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Harvard Club's founding. The main entrance portico was slightly truncated in 1916, when the New York City government widened 44th Street. The Harvard Club also installed a plaque in 1919, commemorating students who had died in World War I.

1920s to 1980s
Several members of the Harvard Club bought a site at 33 West 44th Street in early 1927; the site cost $197,500 and contained a stable at the time. The Harvard Club Holding Company held the site for the club in case the clubhouse was to be expanded. In 1928, the Harvard Club dedicated a tablet in one of the building's niches, honoring 63 Harvard students who had died in World War I. The Harvard Club rented out the site of 33 West 44th Street for more than ten years, but it began losing money by the late 1930s. McKim, Mead & White drew up plans for a two-story annex at 33 West 44th Street in 1939; the structure was to be designed in the same manner as the original clubhouse and the two previous annexes. The first floor would contain an expansion of the bar and grill room, while the second story would include dressing rooms for women and would not be connected to the existing clubhouse. The structure would have its own entrance and would be strong enough to accommodate another four floors as needed.

The club voted in 1941 to accept female guests. A separate entrance was built for female guests, leading to a reception room on the first floor and a dressing room in the basement. On the second floor, the Red Room and card room respectively became a lounge and dining room.

Admission of women
In the spring of 1970, four Harvard Business School students — Ellen Marram, Katie Metzger, Roslyn Braeman Payne, and Lynn Salvage — were turned away from membership interviews at the Harvard Club of New York, because the Club admitted only men. That fall, Marram and Salvage wrote to Morgan Wheelock, the president of the Harvard Club of New York, to request that women be granted equal membership privileges. Wheelock rejected the request. In January 1971, Marram and Salvage began a letter-writing campaign to the new president, Albert H. Gordon. A group of Harvard alumni seeking club membership met with Gordon in the fall of 1971, but Gordon initially denied the delegation's request to bring women's membership to a vote.

A Harvard Law School alumna, Marguerite "Mitzi" Filson, suggested the group take legal action against the Harvard Club. Marram, Salvage, Metzler, Payne, and Filson, represented pro bono by Jed S. Rakoff, then prepared a gender discrimination claim to file with the New York Commission on Human Rights. In response, Gordon agreed to put the matter to a vote. Shortly before the vote, several Harvard alumnae — including attorney and activist Brenda Feigen, cofounder of the ACLU Women's Rights Project — sued the Harvard Club in federal court seeking revocation of the Club's liquor license on sex discrimination grounds. Nevertheless, on May 4, 1972, the Club voted to deny full membership rights to women. A majority of members (1,654 to 854) supported membership for women, but the vote fell 18 votes short of the required two-thirds. Marram, Salvage, Metzler, Payne, and Filson then filed their complaint with the New York Commission on Human Rights. In addition, Commission chairwoman Eleanor Holmes Norton issued a two-page letter condemning the Harvard Club's exclusion of women. After the parties came before a New York Human Rights administrative judge, the Harvard Club's Board of Managers called another vote. On January 11, 1973, the club voted 2,097 to 695 to admit female members.

1990s to present
In the 1990s, to address declining revenues, the Harvard Club reorganized its staff to reduce costs. This prompted the club's employees to go on strike for six months in 1994. In addition, the club began offering activities for younger members. At the time, the club had 10,300 members, three-quarters of whom were at least 32 years old; the club had few female members, and all of the portraits in the clubhouse's staircases were of men.

New wing
In 1985, the Harvard Club announced that it had hired alumnus Edward Larrabee Barnes to design an annex at 33–35 West 44th Street, between the New York Yacht Club Building to the west and the Harvard Club house to the east. The club had not divulged the size of the annex, but club president Richard W. Kimball said that the structure would be "respectful of its landmark neighbors" on either side. The next year, Barnes drew up plans for a eight-story brick annex, designed in a similar style to McKim, Mead & White's original building. The facade would contain both a setback and a double-height arched window flanked by columns, blending with the buildings on either side. If the annex were built, the Harvard Club building would contain 120000 ft2, and the club could sell off 160000 ft2 of unused air rights from the site. Barnes's proposal did not progress further. Buttrick White & Burtis proposed an eight-story brick-and-limestone annex in 1991, but these plans also stalled.

The Harvard Club renovated its gym in the early 1990s. The club also installed a chairlift at its main entrance to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA); the main entrance was several steps above ground level, and the sidewalk was too narrow to accommodate a ramp. The Harvard Club renovated the clubhouse in the late 1990s for $3.1 million, repairing the facade and replacing some windows. In early 2001, the Harvard Club hired alumnus Max Bond, of the firm Davis Brody Bond, to design an eight-story annex to the west. The annex was to include a glass facade, an ADA-accessible entrance, and extra clubhouse facilities. The local Manhattan Community Board 5 expressed support for the plans, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the annex in March 2001. Demolition of the site began the same year. The club sold John Singer Sargent's painting The Chess Game for $12.5 million and took out a $13 million loan to help fund the structure. The club covered the remainder of the $30 million cost with its own money.

Several club members, including Richard Jenrette, expressed opposition to the planned wing, saying that its design clashed with that of McKim, Mead & White's original structures. Despite this opposition, the club's board voted to approve the Davis Brody Bond plan. Opponents formed a group called the Committee for HCNY Choice, which sued in the New York Supreme Court to stop the plans, although the lawsuit failed. The group also presented a competing design that more closely resembled the original clubhouse. In January 2002, opponents tried to take over the Harvard Club's board to stop the plans, but this also failed. The new wing was completed in November 2003.

Further modifications
To attract members, the Harvard Club reduced membership fees and temporarily allowed members to be accepted without a letter of recommendation.

Rogers Marvel Architects presented plans for a renovation of the Harvard Club building in 2012. The plans included a rooftop bar and terrace, a squash court, freight elevator, and new exit stair. The renovation was completed in 2014. The following year, as part of a 22-point initiative to save money, the Harvard Club recommended relocating the clubhouse's dining service from the dining room to Harvard Hall, since relatively few club members used the a la carte dining service. Many club members objected when Harvard Club president Michael Holland officially announced the plans in 2018.

Clubhouse
The Harvard Club is headquartered at 27 West 44th Street, on the north sidewalk between Sixth Avenue and Fifth Avenue, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The Harvard Club building is composed of multiple sections. The first three sections were designed in the Georgian Revival style by McKim, Mead & White and built in 1894, 1905, and 1915. Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White was the main designer for the original building and its 1903 annex. Another section, to the west of the existing structures, was designed by Henry Ives Cobb and built in 1946 at 33 West 44th Street. Cobb's annex, along with a neighboring horse stable at 35 West 44th Street, was demolished in the early 2000s to make way for the current annex, which was designed by Davis Brody Bond.

The building is sometimes used for outside corporate events such as business conferences. For example, in 2010, when Sony Pictures leased the building for a screening of the film The Social Network.

Site
The clubhouse's nearly rectangular land lot covers 23,597 ft2, with a frontage of 125 ft on 44th Street and a depth of 200.83 ft. On the same block, the Algonquin, Iroquois, and Sofitel New York hotels and the New York Yacht Club Building are to the west. Other nearby buildings include 1166 Avenue of the Americas to the northwest; the New York City Bar Association Building and the Royalton Hotel to the southwest; and the Penn Club of New York Building, General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, and Hotel Mansfield to the south.

The adjacent block of 44th Street is known as Club Row, which contains several clubhouses. When the Harvard Club Building was developed at the end of the 19th century, several other clubhouses were being built in the area. By the early 1900s, these other clubs included the New York Yacht Club, Yale Club, New York City Bar Association, Century Association, and the City Club of New York, all of which remained in the area at the end of the 20th century. Prior to the development of the Harvard Club Building, the neighborhood contained a slaughterhouse, stables for stagecoach horses, and a train yard for the elevated Sixth Avenue Line. There were historically many stagecoach stables on 43rd and 44th Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, but only a few of the stables remained by the end of the 20th century. The site at 33 West 44th Street had contained an annex of the club, which was built in 1946. A hardware store, Barson Hardware, had occupied the two-story structure at 35 West 44th Street from 1985 to 2000.

McKim, Mead & White structures
The original structure is at the southeastern corner of the site, facing 44th Street, and is three stories tall. At the northeastern corner of the site is a 4-story structure built in 1905. The six-story central wing was built in 1915 and is between the two earlier structures to the east and the Davis Brody Bond annex to the west. The original structure and first two annexes contain red-brick facades. The facade consists of alternating long and short blocks of Harvard brick. The facade contains Indiana limestone trim, and the windows are topped by limestone lintels.

On 44th Street, the original section is split vertically into three bays; the center bay contains the entrance and projects slightly from the rest of the facade. On the second story, the original structure's center bay contains a round-headed window, with two Ionic-style limestone columns on either side. A string course runs above the first story, and an entablature runs above the second floor. On the third story, the original center bay contains a panel inscribed with Harvard University's and the club's founding dates, which flank Harvard's coat of arms. There are two windows on either side of this panel. Above the third story is a brick parapet; in the center bay, the parapet is topped by a stone sphere flanked by two brackets.

The central wing on 44th Street is designed in a nearly identical style but contains three additional stories. On 45th Street, there are brick pilaster s that divide the facade into bays. The second floor contains two large Palladian windows, which illuminate Harvard Hall. The fourth story is housed within the roof and contains dormer windows. The facade on 45th Street is otherwise similar in design to that on 44th Street.

Davis Brody Bond annex
The 2003 annex by Davis Brody Bond contains a glass facade, which contrasts with the rest of the clubhouse. The glass annex is eight stories tall, with a setback above the fifth floor. This annex is 50 ft wide. The 2003 annex has its own entrance, which is wheelchair-accessible, although members could enter either through the annex or through the original clubhouse.

Features
The original clubhouse included mahogany doors and old marble decorations, clocks, and furniture donated by Harvard alumni. All of the furnishings were colored crimson, the official Harvard color. In the original clubhouse, an entry hall occupied one-third of the ground story, and there was a small reception room and grill room in the rear. A grand staircase led up to the second floor, which contained a library and banquet and meeting rooms. The staircase was decorated with portraits of alumni. The library contained portraits of Joseph Hodges Choate, James C. Carter, and Harvard's president; its collection largely included volumes written by Harvard graduates. The library was extended westward when the central wing was constructed in 1915, and a reading room was added within the central wing. The third story of the original clubhouse contained a billiards room, a cards room, and the offices of the club's house committee. No bedrooms were included in the original clubhouse. When the central wing opened, its third floor contained a billiards room, cards room, and three private meeting rooms.

The northeastern wing originally included a cafe at ground level (later Harvard Hall), as well as a meeting and dining room with stained-glass windows and English oak finishes. Most of this wing is taken up by Harvard Hall which measures 38 ft wide, 40 ft high, and 100 ft deep between the center of the block and 45th Street. Harvard Hall contains oak paneling on the walls, above which is Yorkshire sandstone. The west wall of Harvard Hall includes two large fireplaces, while the ceiling contains exposed beams. In addition, the wall contained paintings of several notable Harvard alumni, including those of Choate and Carter. Another dining room was built on the ground floor of the central wing in 1915; this dining room had a double-height ceiling and was surrounded by a balcony on three sides.

When the northeastern wing was built, it contained 20 bedrooms. An additional 34 bedrooms were placed on the fourth and fifth stories of the central wing. In addition, there were locker rooms, a barber shop, two squash courts, and showers on the fifth story. The sixth story of the central wing contained a swimming pool measuring 33 by across, as well as an enclosed solarium. By the late 1990s, the clubhouse had been expanded to seven ballrooms and squash courts, as well as 56 bedrooms for club members. Although the bedrooms were much cheaper than those in any hotel in the neighborhood, they were also small; in the 1990s, The Wall Street Journal described the bedrooms as "cubicles".

The 2003 annex contains 41000 ft2 of space. The annex contains wood-paneled and crimson walls, similar to the older clubhouse. The annex has additional guest rooms, event spaces, media rooms, two squash courts, and a bar designed in a similar style as the clubhouse's original bar.

Critical reception
Davis Brody Bond's 2003 annex was controversial. Architectural Record said: "While for some, the Modernist-style glass and limestone exterior respects the original neo-Georgian brick clubhouse [...] for others, the addition is a desecration." Jack Taylor of the Historic Districts Council said the addition would "stick out like a sore thumb", and Justin Davidson of New York magazine wrote that opponents "were morally justified; the new structure has aged as badly as your high-school haircut." Conversely, Roger K. Lewis was supportive of the project and wrote that opponents' counterproposal "embodies the absence of ideas." Christopher Gray wrote in 2012 that the original building, "newly tuned up, looks far fresher than its brash younger sibling."

Membership
To be eligible for election to membership, a candidate must hold a degree or honorary degree from Harvard, be a tenured faculty member at the university, or serve as an officer, or member of any board or committee of the university. Dues levied are on a sliding scale, based on age and proximity to the club. Like most private clubs, members of the Harvard Club are given reciprocal benefits at clubs around the United States and the world. In 2010, The New York Times reported that the Harvard Club's admissions committee accepted almost all eligible applicants; however, an applicant could be rejected if two members of the admissions committee raised an objection.

Notable members
Rejected Harvard Club applicants include former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, who attempted to apply for membership to the club after the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal.
 * Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City
 * Richard Edelman, businessman
 * John F. Kennedy,
 * Reginald Lewis,
 * Raymond Kelly, police commissioner
 * John Jay McKelvey Sr.,
 * Franklin D. Roosevelt,
 * Theodore Roosevelt
 * James Toback,
 * Frederick M. Warburg,

Philanthropy
The Harvard Club of New York Foundation was incorporated in the state of New York in March 1953. It makes an annual gift to the Harvard College Financial Aid Program, maintains a scholarship fund that helps support 20 undergraduates at Harvard College, supports several Harvard University graduate programs and provides stipends to support Harvard University students to work non-paying, or low paying fields.