Union Club of the City of New York


The Union Club of the City of New York is a private social club on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City that was founded in 1836. The clubhouse is located at 101 East 69th Street on the corner of Park Avenue. Designed by Delano & Aldrich, the current clubhouse opened on August 28, 1933.
The Union Club is the oldest private club in New York City, the second oldest "city club" in the United States, after the Philadelphia Club, and is the fifth oldest "private club" in the United States, after the South River Club in Annapolis, Maryland, the Schuylkill Fishing Company in Andalusia, Pennsylvania, the Old Colony Club in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the Philadelphia Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Union Club is considered one of the most prestigious clubs in New York City.
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Clubhouse

The current building is the club's sixth clubhouse and the third built specifically for the members. The prior two clubhouses were at Fifth Avenue and 21st Street, occupied from 1855 to 1903; and on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 51st Street, a limestone clubhouse occupied from 1903 to 1933.
In 1927, club members voted to move uptown, to a quieter and less crowded location. They hired architects William Adams Delano and Chester Holmes Aldrich—who had previously designed buildings for the Knickerbocker Club, the Brook Club, and the Colony Club—to design their new clubhouse. The Union moved to its current location in 1933. The building is known for its opulence and idiosyncratic details. At one point the building featured five dining rooms and a humidor with 100,000 cigars. Notable rooms include the card room, the backgammon room, the library, and the lounge.

History

The Union Club was founded in 1836 at a meeting held at the home of John McCrackan at 1 Bond Street, and was considered "the most thoroughly aristocratic private institution in the city." The Union Club has been referred to as the "Mother of Clubs" because it was from the Union Club and its membership that many other private clubs in New York and elsewhere have sprung. From the beginning, the Union Club was known for its strongly conservative principles. During the Civil War, the club refused to expel its Confederate members, despite taking a strong line on suppressing anti-draft riots. This policy led some members of the Union to leave and form the Union League Club of New York.
In 1891, the Metropolitan Club was founded by J.P. Morgan as a direct answer to the Union Club, after many of Morgan's friends were denied entry to the Union Club. The Knickerbocker Club was founded by members of the Union who thought the membership standards had fallen.
In 1903, The Brook was founded by some prominent members of the Union Club.
In 1918, the Union began using women waitresses to free male employees for service related to World War I. This was the first time women were officially allowed entrance to the previously male-only enclave.
In 1932, the Union Club boasted 1,300 members. By the 1950s, urban social club membership was dwindling, in large part because of the movement of wealthy families to the suburbs. In 1954, Union Club membership had declined to 950 members. In 1959, the Union Club and the Knickerbocker Club considered merging the Union's 900 men with The Knick's 550 members, but the plan never came to fruition.
The Union Club is one of the few places where the game of bottle pool is still popular.

In popular culture

  • In the 1988 film Working Girl, Tess and Jack gatecrash the wedding of Oren Trask's daughter at the Union Club, where they pitch their plan to Trask.
  • In Season 3, Episode 8 of HBO's series Boardwalk Empire, titled "The Pony", Nucky Thompson poses as a member of the Kansas City Club to gain access to the Union Club via "a reciprocal agreement" between the two clubs. He then proposes a partnership to Andrew Mellon against Harry Daugherty.
  • In Season 3, Episode 6 of The Gilded Age, George Russell is said to be staying at the Union Club. Oscar van Rhijn and John Adams also meet at the Union Club toward the end of the episode.

Notable members

Reciprocities

War records

More than 300 members of the Union Club joined the U.S. military services during World War II. In 1947, the club published Union Club World War II Records 1940 - 1947, recording the military accomplishments of those members who served during the War and who chose to participate in the project.