page_title: Harvard Club of New York
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Harvard Club of New York / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Harvard Club, nyc
context_page_description: The Harvard Club of New York City, commonly called The Harvard Club, is a private social club located in Midtown Manhattan, New York, USA.
  Incorporated in 1887, it is housed in adjoining lots at 27 West 44th Street and 35 West 44th Street. The original wing, built in 1894, was designed in red brick neo-Georgian style by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White.
context_section_description: Founded without a location in 1865, by a group of Harvard University alumni, the club first rented a townhouse on 22nd Street. In 1888, the members acquired land on 44th Street. The clubhouse was established in the neighborhood where many of New York City's other clubs, such as the New York Yacht Club, were located, and across the street from the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York.
  The club selected architect Charles Follen McKim, of McKim, Mead & White, for the project. The design was Georgian style of architecture with Harvard brick and Indiana limestone. The building's 1894 façade is reminiscent of McKim, Mead and White's 1901 gates at Harvard Yard. In 1905, Harvard Hall, the Grill Room, a new library, a billiard room, and two floors of guest rooms were added.
  In 1915, McKim, Mead & White doubled the building's size by constructing the Main Dining Room, a bar, additional guestrooms, banquet rooms, and athletic facilities including a 7th floor swimming pool. In 2003, a new 40,000-square-feet contemporary glass and limestone building was added by Davis Brody Bond, under the direction of J. Max Bond, Jr.
  In 1968, just before walking down the aisle to marry Marc Fasteau, her Harvard Law classmate, Brenda Feigen saw a "NO LADIES ALLOWED" sign on the club's library wall. Feigen and her husband later appealed to the club to allow women among its members, but the board voted to reject the proposal. The newlyweds soon  after launched a class action lawsuit against the club for discriminating on the basis of sex. After five years of legal work, in the last conference before the trial was set to begin, a federal judge ordered the club to take one final vote. The next day, on January 11, 1973, the club voted 2,097 to 695 to admit female members. Publicly, the club's outgoing president, Albert H. Gordon, maintained that the vote was unconnected with the discrimination suit filed earlier in the year. Nevertheless, the decision marked a win for Feigen, who would come back together with her fellow plaintiffs in 2008 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the success.
  The building is sometimes used for outside corporate events such as business conferences.
caption: The Harvard Club library, photographed in 2016
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