This is the second home of the Colony Club, the prestigious women’s social club that quickly outgrew its 1908 Stanford White-designed headquarters on Madison Avenue and E 31st Street. (Why didn’t White get to design the second club? He was shot by a jealous husband – but that’s another story.)
Like men’s clubs of the era, Colony Club was big on fitness facilities: the basement has what is said to be New York’s deepest indoor pool, a spa, and (via express elevator) a gymnasium and squash courts on the fifth floor. Other facilities included a ballroom and even a kennel for members’ pets.
Membership was (and still is) restricted to women – you must be recommended by a current member to be considered. Past members include Harrimans, Morgans, Astors and Rockefellers, to drop a few names.
Colony Club Vital Statistics
- Location: 564 Park Avenue at E 62nd Street
- Year completed: 1916
- Architect: Delano & Aldrich
- Floors: 7
- Style: neo-Georgian
- New York City Landmark: 1981
Colony Club Recommended Reading
- Wikipedia entry
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (p. 382)
- The New York Times Streetscapes column
- Beyond the Gilded Age blog
- The City Review commentary
- Li • Saltzman Architects restoration details