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Beaux-Arts style building once housed Yale’s bachelor graduates,and is currently occupied by the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Club. On February 9, 2010, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate the former Yale Club at 30 West 44th Street as an individual City landmark. Marc Eidlitz & Son built the eleven-story Beaux-Arts style building in 1901. The firm of Tracy & Swartwout designed the structure to function as living, dining, and social space for bachelor graduates of Yale University. The Yale Club used the building until 1915, when the club relocated to a larger facility two blocks away. The section of 44th street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues was known as “Clubhouse Row” because, in addition to the Yale Club, it hosted the Harvard Club, the New York City Yacht Club, and the City Club.
After the Yale Club vacated the building, it housed the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity until it passed hands to the Army and Navy Club of America. During World War II, the U.S. Government purchased the building, and used it for various purposes until 1971 when it donated the building to Touro College. The University of Pennsylvania bought the structure in 1989, and it is currently home to its Penn Club. The university restored the building and built a Helpern Architects-designed three-story set back rooftop addition.
Landmarks warmly endorsed the designation. Commissioner Stephen Byrns described the building as a distinguished work of architecture with a “very rich palate of materials,” and noted its interesting history. Commissioner Joan Gerner called the building “exquisite,” and praised Penn’s “sensitive” restoration.
Former Yale Club, 30 West 44th Street, Manhattan (LP-2379) (Feb. 9, 2010).
