161 West 93rd Street is a building on93rd Street inManhattan that was once the home of theNippon Club, agentlemen's club for Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals.[1]
The club, founded in 1905 byJōkichi Takamine, first occupied a townhouse at 334 Riverside Drive, between 105th and 106th Streets.[2] TheRenaissance Revival building at 161 West 93rd Street was designed for the club by the architectJohn Vredenburgh Van Pelt and erected in 1912.[2] TheAmerican Institute of Architects guide describes the style as "the Chicago school crossbred with Florence", remarking that "the cornice is extraordinary; it sails overhead with the assurance of Lorenzo de'Medici". Windows alternate with a brick frieze, in the manner of theMetopes andtriglyphs of a Greek temple.[3]
After the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor, the building was seized by the federal government. In 1944, the Federal Office of theAlien Property Custodian sold the building to theElks.Today, the building houses a church calledTemplo Adventista at its lower level and condominiums on the upper floors.
40°47′31″N73°58′15″W / 40.79184°N 73.9709°W /40.79184; -73.9709
