True Stories of the Penn Club of New York

The Penn Club of New York – now observing its 30th anniversary – invited David Helpern back, though not to design, consult, or renovate as Helpern Architects has done regularly. Instead, at a June 27th celebration, he made a presentation about “Creating the Penn Club.”

“Add seven years to that 30,” David said. “The nearly derelict building took seven years for the University of Pennsylvania to acquire and for our firm to transform into today’s refined university stronghold. West 44th Street is historically home to many important New York City private clubs; this one was almost lost.” The story of the renovation is here.

“What people don’t know,” David explained to a crowd of club members, “is that much of what they suppose had been carefully restored had never been part of the original building, which was built for Yale in the early 1900s.” He recalls that “At the 1994 gala dinner, guests congratulated us on retaining the original décor. They were so delighted, we never let on. At last, the story is being told.”

For a description of the Penn Club from rescue to renovation, click here.

First image: In 2019, Helpern Architects, working with Lynne Beyer Design for the interior décor, updated what is now the Ben Franklin Room with its distinctive English oak woodwork. This room was entirely created from scratch. Photograph ©Durston Saylor

Second image: As ownership changed, the space that was once the Yale Club’s grill room became the library of Touro Law Center, part of Touro University, the building’s last occupant. Note the raised floor, needed to support the steel stacks.

Third image: The stained glass lay light in front of the Franklin Room’s fireplace honors a Penn scholar/athlete who died very young. It came to the club from the university’s archives.