FIFTH   AVENUE
 

21
 

From a print.
 

Collection of S. B. Altmayer.
UNION CLUB IN 1855.

Northwest corner of 21st'Street and Fifth Avenue.
 

As early as 1855 clubs had begun to elbow themselves into Fifth
Avenue, and one of the first to intrude among the residences was
the Union Club, organized in 1836 with four hundred of the City's
most distinguished citizens as members. In 1855 it moved from Broad¬
way near 4th Street into a new club house on the northwest corner of
21st Street and Fifth Avenue, described at the time as "a superb
brownstone structure which cost $300,000," and which was the first
house erected in New York solely for club purposes. In 1859 the Athe-
neum established itself at the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and
16th Street. The Manhattan Club, in 1876, when August Belmont
was president, occupied the former home of Charles M. Parker at the
southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 15th Street. The Lotos Club
in 1888 had its home opposite the Union Club at the northeast corner
of 21st Street. The Travellers' Club occupied the large residence
that had belonged to Gordon W. Burnham, at the southwest corner of
18th Street and Fifth Avenue. The Arcadian Club, for promoting fellow¬
ship among journalists, artists, musicians, literary and theatrical men,
was at 146 Fifth Avenue between 19th and 20th Streets. In 1874 the
New York Club, which had been formed in 1846 by a number of young
literary and professional men and "men about town," moved from its
location at 15th Street and Fifth Avenue to a building which faced the
Worth Monument at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 25th Street. The
Knickerbocker Club, organized in 1871 and composed of descendants of
the first settlers of New York, bought from William Butler Duncan his
residence on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 28th Street for
$180,000 and fitted it up as a commodious and elegantly appointed club
 

First Clubs
on Fifth
Avenue