University Club of New York

The University Club of New York occupies the site where Saint Luke's Hospital once stood. When the hospital moved uptown in the late nineteenth century, the club seized the opportunity to build a permanent home on this prime corner of Fifth Avenue. They hired the renowned architecture firm McKim, Mead and White, whose own partners were members of the club, to design a structure worthy of their stature. The result was a nine-story Italian Renaissance Revival palazzo that opened its doors in eighteen ninety-nine. To emphasize its academic roots, the granite exterior features the carved stone seals of eighteen different American colleges and universities.