Crescent Athletic Club The Crescent Athletic Club House is a notable building in Brooklyn , New York . Designed by prominent Brooklyn architect Frank Freeman and completed in 1906 , the building is known today as The Bosworth Building of Saint Ann ' s School . History . The Crescent Athletic Club was one of the most successful New York sporting clubs of the late 19th / early 20th centuries . Organized in 1884 , the club rapidly grew to 1 , 500 members by 1902 , at which time it was decided to build a new clubhouse . Brooklyn architect Frank Freeman was commissioned to design the building , which was completed in 1906 . By the 1920s , membership of such clubs was in decline , and in 1939 the Crescent Athletic Club filed for bankruptcy , vacating its Brooklyn clubhouse the following year . Through the 1940s and 1950s the building was used for office space and stores , while a bowling alley operated out of the basement . In 1966 the building was purchased for use as a school by the nearby St . Ann ' s Episcopal Church for the sum of $ 365 , 000 . By 1982 , the school had become a separate entity from the Church . In 2000 , the School paid $ 1 million to have the building ' s facade renovated . The building is referred to by the school as the Bosworth Building , after the school ' s first headmaster . Description . Though sometimes disparaged in comparison with Freeman ' s earlier Richardsonian Romanesque works , this Italianate Beaux Arts building rooted in north Italian 16th - century palazzo styles nevertheless incorporates some interesting design features . Chief among these is the fact that the building appears to be only four or five stories in height , when in fact it is twelve . The optical illusion is achieved primarily by the use of double - height windows which each span two floors . The base of the building is constructed of channelled , rusticated limestone , while the stories above are of a light - colored brick , with terra cotta ornaments . The rusticated ground floor is capped with a prominent cornice which forms a continuous line with a series of balustrade d balconies below the pedimented windows . Arising directly from the segmental arches of these window pediment s is the third level of windows , an unusual arrangement which serves to enhance the overall illusion of decreased height . Above this level is a second cornice with more balustraded balconies , from which the final level of double - height windows arises . At the top of the building is a row of smaller attic windows , " set within a magnificent terra cotta frieze " , and a final , heavy cornice . The interior of the clubhouse originally featured " a fantastic variety of spaces " , including a swimming pool , rifle range and bowling alley in the basement , squash and handball courts , a gym nasium on the top floor , a billiard room , a double - height , oak - panelled dining room on the third floor , a grand hall , sleeping quarters and a library . Much of the original interior has since been altered , but the building retains some of its original rooms . The decorated marble floor in the main hall is now covered with linoleum , while the classical - style mural s in the hall and library have also survived , albeit in indifferent condition .