The Addition to the New York Harvard Club

NEW YORK HARVARD CLUB

MCKIM, MEAD & WHITE - ARCHITECTS' 

By JOHN TAYLOR. BOYD. Jr.

***Published 1915***

ARCHITECTS are aware that any member of their profession who undertakes to plan extensive additions to an already completed building has set himself a difficult task. Hampered as he is by conditions established through the solution of other problems than his own, he is forced to compromise at every turn. In plan, he must work to the system of communication - elevators, stairs, corridors -already in place. In section, he must abide by conditions of story heights already established; and in elevation, he is obliged to conform to the scheme of architectural motives and window openings of the old building. Indeed, he is lucky if his compromises do not degenerate into mere makeshifts.

Fortunately, there are compensations that offset these drawbacks. The very necessary irregularity of the work may provide an interest that a rigid following of academic teachings of exact symmetry, of T-square and triangle balance, might lack; and the informal point of view forced on the architect may result in much charm and individuality. Unlooked for contrasts of scale, unexpected vistas and pleasing oddities of plan, sudden changes in section, will often more than compensate for the lack of symmetry en axe. Indeed, if the problem be skillfully handled, the result may not only be successful, but even more, may bear the precious imprint of personality.

It is in plan principally that these advantages of alteration work lie. Such are large rooms entered on the corner, alcoves or bays shedding light in dark corners, unexpected shapes of rooms, odd corridors and flights of stairs. It is because of like features that the old medieval plans are so valued, and it is to be remembered that they, too, were often the result of growth in several stages, rather than the sudden creation of a complete unit.

The new additions to the Harvard Club of New York, just finished, offer an interesting example of the ideas outlined above. In this case, moreover, the situation was further complicated because these were the second set of such additions carried out by the club since it moved to the present site on Forty-fourth Street.


The first building was a charming little bit of domestic architecture, completed in 1894, which, with its low three-storied front, was regarded as one of the minor masterpieces of Mr. Charles W. McKim. In 1905 the club increased its quarters, the most notable addition being the wellknown Harvard Hall, a great three-storied hall extending to Forty-fifth Street. With beamed ceiling, high oak paneled wainscot, and stone wall above, the room was originally intended for a lounging room. This function it now fulfills, though heretofore it has served as a dining hall.


The second enlargement of the building practically doubles the facilities of the club as they existed after the first enlargement, and provides, in addition, a swimming tank. The extension occupies two lots on Forty-fifth Street and one on Forty-fourth Street, adjoining the club.

***First Floor Plan***

Through this change, the basement was given over almost entirely to the kitchen, service and administrative offices. On the main floor the offices, coatrooms, toilet, bar, etc., are moved to one side in the new addition, with a subsidiary corridor serving them. Adjacent an elevator and service stairs are provided. The lobby is increased in size, forming an ample foregathering space, or cafe, one story high, with paneled walls and piers. On this level, to the rear, on Forty-fourth Street, is a great new dining hall, extending up two stories, covering larger floor space than the old Harvard Hall, and with a gallery around it. Right here is one of the picturesque features of the plan. The great room is entered on the corner, both from a corner of Harvard Hall and from a corner of the cafe. From the plan it will be noticed that the architects have maintained a diagonal vista through this cafe, and through the service corridor, into the new dining hall. Thus, standing at the entrance to the cafe, one may glance into both Harvard Hall and the new dining hall - a striking instance of how the limitations of the situation have been not only surmounted but actually turned to advantage.

***Second Floor Plan***

On the second floor we find an addition to the library and a reading room which the club will complete later. 

***Third Floor Plan***

Above, on the third floor, there are a simple billiard room, a large room for meetings, class dinners, etc., over the dining room, and an interesting addition to the card room. In this card room again, we notice another clever bit of planning. It has been made T-shaped in plan, by opening a large square bay into the new addition. Besides adding more light, the room is made more attractive through the unusual shape resulting from this change. 


With the fourth and fifth floors given over to bedrooms, the sixth floor to dressing, locker rooms, barber shops, etc., for the swimming pool and squash courts, we complete the description of the plan. 

NORTH ELEVATION ON FORTY-FIFTH STREET - HARVARD CLUB NEW YORK - McKIM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS.

In elevation, this plan has heen worked out with a distinct success. 

FORTY-FOURTH STREET FRONT - HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.   McKlM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS.

It would have been too hard to destroy the unity of the perfect little three-story Forty-fourth Street front by trying to blend it with the narrow six-storv tower of the new addition. Consequently the architects wisely decided to make the two units almost separate, treating the tower simply, in order not to have it compete with the entrance. 

FORTY-FIFTH STREET(REAR) ELEVATION - HARVARD CLUB NEW YORK - McKIM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS.

On Forty-fifth Street, the motive of Harvard Hall has been reproduced almost exactly, the change occurring in very slight variations of the window openings. The top of the arch of the Palladian motive, besides some panes of glass below, was blocked up in the new part where the ceiling of the dining-room meets the exterior wall inside.


Coming now to the interior details of the Harvard Club, the plunge and the new dining hall are well worth careful study. for so excellent are they, each in a different way, that they may well be said to take high rank in contemporary architecture.

As will be seen from the drawings, the plunge is placed on the very top of the building to derive the full advantage of light and air. It is this fine situation, as well as its interesting arrangement and architectural treatment, that makes the Harvard Club plunge so successful. The average pool in clubs, gymnasiums, and Y. M. C. A. buildings is usually subterranean, ill lighted and ventilated, and certainly most uninteresting architecturally. It is usually as utilitarian as the barber shop. But the Harvard Club pool, while extremely simple, impresses one as a most genial, cheerful, pleasant sort of place, where one likes to linger and enjoy the lingering as much as the swim.

SOLARIUM, WITH VISTA INTO PLUNGE - HARVARD CLUB NEW YORK - McKIM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS. .

For this purpose of tarrying after the exercise, the adjacent "solarium" is provided, separated from the pool only by a little lobby, which contains a tiny hot room and a winding staircase to the dressing rooms below.

THE PLUNGE  - HARVARD CLUB NEW YORK - McKIM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS.

The unusual charm of the plunge and solarium, which were treated together as a whole, is further enhanced by the color. The solarium has white trim, walls and ceiling of light grayish yellow, mantelpiece of Belgian black-and-gold marble, with a floor of very rich deep green of the battleship linoleum. The plunge has much the same effect. White marble bands are used, white mosaic for the pool, and gray terrazzo is found on the floor and as a dado on the side wall. 

The side of the pool itself is formed of small inch squares of white mosaic, with dark green bands. To set off this delicate color, which might tend otherwise to be insipid, there are little hedges of bay trees, set in the recesses of the casement windows. 

PLAN AND SECTION OF PLUNGE AND SOLARIUM LOOKING WEST - HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.   McKlM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS.

END ELEVATION OF PLUNGE  - HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.

ENTRANCE ELEVATION OF PLUNGE, SHOWING SIDE ENTRANCES TO SHOWERS - HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.

SOUTH ELEVATION OF SOLARIUM, SHOWING ENTRANCE INTO PLUNGE HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.

Extremely simple as it is, this arrangement of plunge is as perfect a bit of architecture as one often sees. It bears the stamp of style in every part of it.


Quite different from the graceful cozy plunge is the great new dining hall on the ground floor. Its bold fine treatment, its virile character, its rich striking color express admirably its purpose - a dining hall in a club with Harvard traditions in the background. 


One can see at a glance that the architectural antecedents of the room are the old English halls, yet the treatment is original, the detail is free, and the adaptation is in no way slavish or mechanical. And, fortunately, the latest catchword in art-advertising cannot be applied to it. This hall is not a "period" room.


There is another virtue in this room. I have spoken of its bold treatment. A great vice that is creeping into Amcrican architecture of interiors today is an exaggeration of tiny details. Mouldings are multiplied until they become liny and disturbing. Every little, plain surface is paneled in most tiresome fashion. It is as if draughtsmen had come to hate a white spot on a piece of paper, or a blank space on a wall, and to feel obliged to cover every bit of their drawings with something, preferably mere lines. As a result, the architecture as executed is endlessly tricked out, fussy and finicky - mere virtuosity. The precious contrast of broad plane surfaces against moulded surfaces is lost, there is no restfulness anywhere. This architectural nervousness, this over-working of the pencil, usually goes hand in hand with dislike of the brush. Such work is usually very weak in color, whereas color is the one thing that would save it, if anything could save it. The classic examples which are elaborately wrought in form, are usually rich in color, which at once clothes the form and enlivens it. For instance, the exuberantly rich ceilings of the Vecchio Palace in Florence would seem very heavy - as if they would fall on our heads -were they not colored with all the hues of earth and heaven to lighten them and to hold them up in place. Some years ago, I worked in an office where the head draughtsman was slightly under this evil influence. He called it "modern academic feeling." It may be academic, but it is certainly not modern, and has no real feeling. Though this affectation of extreme elegance and artificiality is often found in New York, the best New York work is free from this vice, as in the case of the Harvard Club we are considering. It would be well, perhaps, to devise a label for this "modern academic feeling" which could be quickly applied to sufferers as a warning, much as boards of health paste saffron scarlet fever signs on front doors.

***MAIN DINING ROOM PLAN AT FIRST FLOOR***

ALCOVE IN HARVARD HALL - OLDER PORTION OF HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.   McKlM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS.

***WEST ELEVATION - MAIN DINING ROOM***

One turns from this over-emphasized technique to a work like the Harvard Club dining hall with a feeling of great relief. What a straightforward, manly quality it has! The slight looseness of the room, which results from the conditions imposed by the old work and which cannot lie helped, is frankly faced. For instance, three of the walls of the room are not exactly symmetrical, and the needs of the service require that almost half the space under the galleries be blocked off. 

DETAIL OF PLASTER CEILING IN DINING HALL - HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.   McKlM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS.

Yet the splendid ceiling is designed to hold all this together, and prevent the eye of the beholder from contemplating too closely these minor irregularities.

VIEW IN GALLERY OF DINING HALL - HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.   McKlM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS. 

The arrangement of bedrooms and light courts above causes the wide column-spacing of the three central bays of the galleries, which does not seem too wide, however, for wooden construction. 

VIEW TOWARDS ENTRANCE OF DINING ROOM - HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.   McKlM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS. 

DINING HALL - HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.   McKlM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS.

DINING HALL, FORTY-FIFTH STREET END - HARVARD CLUB OF NEW YORK.   McKlM, MEAD & WHITE, ARCHITECTS.

Incidentally, the general dimensions of the hall are as follows: The ceiling is some 95' 0" long and 35' 8" wide, and the total height of the room is 28' 7". The height from first floor to the gallery floor is 12' 5".


The description of the dining-room would not be complete without a brief notice of the admirable color scheme. The stone work is light gray, the ceiling a rich cream yellow, while the oak wood work was finished a very light, almost yellow color, with the knowledge that it will darken considerably in time. The gallery walls are a deep Pompeian sort of red, which seems a little strong in the evening perhaps, but which will take its proper place as the wood work grows darker and as other color notes are brought into the scheme - the tapestries, portraits, trophies, game heads, and the permanent lighting fixtures, replacing the present ones. It will be several years before this great room will really be completed to reach its full beauty. Such a work can rarely be finished all at once, and when it is, it is apt to look like a stage setting or a show window.


Thus, so far as the dining hall is concerned, this description is written about five years too soon, but time and publication wait for no man.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Club_of_New_York


Ten years later, in 1925, the Clubhouse was in need of expansion yet again. However, the Club had no land on which to build. Negotiations for the adjacent property at 33 West 44th Street were reinstated and continued for the next six years. But by the time the property was finally transferred to the Club, the Great Depression had begun. The Club had to tighten its belt. Then came World War II and material shortages; dreams of expansion were tabled for the duration. But while the Clubhouse was stuck at its 1915 size, membership was not. During World War II, the demand for bedrooms was so great, the Club sacrificed the Plunge, flooring over the pool to create dormitory space where members could rent a cot for the night. 


After the war, veterans, taking advantage of the G.I. Bill, began to flood Harvard and other universities. The Club realized that membership would continue to grow. Yet there were still several problems to be solved. The Club did not have a large budget for expansion. On the other hand, it did own the adjacent property at 33 West 44th Street, purchased in 1931. It was thought that it might be possible to expand the Clubhouse into the adjacent building at a relatively low cost. Alas, with the exception of the first floor, the floors of the five-story structure were not aligned with those of the Clubhouse. Worse, the top three floors were constructed of combustible materials and legally could not be used for clubrooms. The solution: tear down the three upper floors and remodel the lower two. The facade of the building was remodeled by a little-known architect who was a member of the Club. The design of the facade, a conscious effort to imitate McKim's Neo-Georgian style, is generally conceded to be uninspired and unsucessful. The two floors of the small building provided a few additional facilities – some staff offices, an extension to the Ladies' Dining Room (now the Cambridge Rooms), a men's restroom, and the present Main Bar. 


Today, the Clubhouse remains on West 44th Street. ***Lifted from the clubs website***