The 1901 high-rise that housed the Yale Club

30 West 44th Street is the first university clubhouse in New York City to be designed as a high-rise. It was built in 1901 to house the Yale Club, but the members moved out in 1915 because the building became overcrowded.

The building is a Beaux-Arts structure by Tracy and Swartwout. It features a facade of brick and Indiana limestone, with rusticated blocks on the first two stories. It sits on a 5,038-square-foot lot between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, replacing smaller structures at 30 and 32 West 44th Street.

The building has seen many uses. After Yale, it hosted Delta Kappa Epsilon, then the Army & Navy Club. In 1943, the federal government acquired the building, which contained offices for the United States Maritime Service during World War II. It then housed the Organized Reserve after 1948. The property was sold to Touro College in 1971, then to the University of Pennsylvania in 1989, before becoming the clubhouse of the Penn Club.

In the 1990s, David P. Helpern was hired to renovate the building and add three stories to the original 11-story plan. Today, it still functions as a clubhouse. It is a designated landmark in a neighborhood that was previously home to a slaughterhouse, stables, and a train yard.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons