New York, NY
University of Pennsylvania
60,000 sf
Scene I, 1987-1994: The classical 1901 building on the eastern end of Manhattan’s West 44th Street – the elegant part called “Club Row” – was in a serious state of disrepair when University of Pennsylvania alumni gamely decided to purchase it for its only off-campus clubhouse.
It took seven years to restore, redesign, and vertically expand the building to create the Penn Club of New York, now a welcoming, 14-story clubhouse for University of Pennsylvania alumni and friends.
No. 30 was originally built for Yale University, which had moved two blocks away, across from Grand Central Station. Over the intervening years and checkered uses, inappropriate renovations and deferred maintenance had stripped out most of the original detail.
Working with a New York committee as the client, we used historic research as well as inspiration from the University itself for the program. We reconstructed the building and interiors to provide the impression of a grand turn-of-the-century club – refreshed but unchanged.
Everything, of course, is new: 39 guest rooms; dining, banquet, meeting, and office space; a business center; and two additional floors for a gym and roof-top mechanical system.
The limestone-and-brick exterior was repaired and cleaned, but the extent of the restoration is most obvious on the interior, where basically all that could be salvaged was the French limestone floor at the reception area. We rebuilt the Piano Nobile [Second Floor, lastly a basketball court] and also the grand stair that now connects it down to the popular Grill Room [formerly a utility space]. Each guest room floor has a central “living room.” We reclaimed original plasterwork and added stained glass from the university archives. English oak paneling warms the Ben Franklin main room, which the prior occupant had made into library stacks.
Scene II, 2019-2020: After 25 years, it was time to update and upgrade the Ben Franklin Room to the comfort and lighting expected by the younger members and design grace notes expected by older alumni. The story of that renovation is here. Working with Lynne Beyer Design, a well-known interior design firm that specializes in hospitality, we totally renewed the heavily-used room – furniture, fabrics, finishes, equipment, plus lighting, A/C, and other event systems – although members could swear that we only moved the furniture around!
Proof of Success: University clubs are expected to pay their own way. Our master plan certainly gave The Penn Club of New York double the number of hotel rooms and increased space for banquet and meeting rooms. It also made the facility more financially productive. In fact, today’s enduring clubhouse comfortably hosts other NYC university clubs not so fortunate.
Praise: Because it is both attractive and well-run, The Penn Club is considered one of the best city clubs in the US. Our work received a Preservation Award from NYC’s Municipal Art Society and was featured in Interior Design magazine. Often institutions don’t want their buildings landmarked, but Penn Club members worked to get the clubhouse onto the National Register of Historic Places and to be designated as a New York City landmark – a very pleasant kudo for our efforts.
