Penn Club of New York

On October 6, 1900, the University of Pennsylvania's Club of New York opened in four ground-floor rooms in the Royalton Hotel, just 200 feet (61 m) west of today's clubhouse. The Penn Club soon had more than 150 members at a time when only 400 alumni lived in the New York area, and received its charter from the New York Legislature in 1901.

In 1905, the Club moved to "new and commodious quarters" in the Hotel Stanley at 124 West 47th Street, where it remained until 1910. Between 1911 and 1922, however, the Club did away with a clubhouse, instead focusing on their annual banquet.

In 1922, after a three-year search, the club's directors leased two townhouses on East 50th Street, next to what today is the New York Palace Hotel. Throughout the 1920s, the Penn Club on East 50th Street was active and successful. Its dining and guest rooms were regularly filled and its dinners and programs were highly attended. The Great Depression, though, quickly hit the Club hard, and it vacated its townhouses in 1935.

Thereafter, it shared space in the Cornell Club on East 38th Street, moved to two other clubs, and finally settled in the Phi Gamma Delta Club on West 56th Street, where it remained until 1961, when it moved to the Biltmore Hotel. The Club stayed in the Biltmore Hotel until the hotel was gutted and made an office tower in 1981 by Paul Milstein.

In 1989, the university bought the current 14-story building for $15 million.[1] After raising a separate $25 million (including $150,000+ donations each from Estee Lauder heirs Leonard Lauder and Ronald Lauder, as well as Saul Steinberg, Michael Milken, and Ronald Perelman) and two years of renovation,[6] the Penn Club moved to its current location on West 44th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, opening doors in 1994.

All members enjoy full use of the clubhouse facilities and its services. The high-rise, 14-story clubhouse includes two restaurants and bars: the double-story, Main Dining Room, which requires a jacket for men and can also be rented for events on weekends, and the Grill Room,[8] which has a sushi chef.[9] Its Benjamin Franklin Living Room (named after the university's founder) features a fireplace, piano, paintings of Penn leaders such as Benjamin Franklin and President Amy Gutmann, and 24/7 library for members to checkout books,[10] and the business center has workspaces and conference rooms. In addition to five floors of 39 guestrooms, its Palestra Fitness Center features state-of-the-art equipment, a spa and massages, personal training coaches, and 13th floor terrace.[11]

Members may also use the squash courts at the Yale Club of New York City, and have access to more than 150 reciprocal private clubs worldwide, including yacht clubs, country clubs, and golf clubs.

Situated at 30 W 44th (and Fifth Avenue), the Penn Club is located on Clubhouse Row[12] directly in front of the Harvard Club of New York at 27 W 44th, on the same block as the Cornell Club of New York at 6 E 44th (and Fifth Avenue) and New York Yacht Club at 37 W 44th, and a block away from the Yale Club of New York City on E 44th (and Vanderbilt) and Princeton Club of New York at 15 W 43rd (and Fifth Avenue) for inter-club events. Despite being in New York City, Columbia University shares a clubhouse with the Penn Club, while Dartmouth shares with the Yale Club and Brown shares the Cornell Club.

The club hosts annual events including an inter-club New Year's Eve celebration, members-only celebrations on all major holidays,[13] and regular social networking events on cultural, intellectual, professional, and personal subjects.

Membership also includes access to a members-only Penn Club website and app, and "Societies" or committees to help members network.[14]