New York Yacht Club Building

New York Yacht Club
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
New York State Register of Historic Places
New York City Landmark No. 1019
Seen in 2024
Location	37 W. 44th St., Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Coordinates	40°45′20.5″N 73°58′53.8″W / 40.755694°N 73.981611°W / 40.755694; -73.981611
Area	7,538 sq ft (700 m2)
Built	1901
Architect	Whitney Warren; Warren & Wetmore
Architectural style	Beaux Arts
NRHP reference No.	82001203
NYSRHP No.	06101.001757[1]
NYCL No.	1019
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 29, 1982[3]
Designated NHL	May 28, 1987[4]
Designated NYSRHP	September 17, 1982[1]
Designated NYCL	September 11, 1979[2]

The New York Yacht Club Building is a seven-story Beaux-Arts clubhouse at 37 West 44th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Opened in 1901, the building was designed by architect Whitney Warren of Warren and Wetmore as the sixth clubhouse of the New York Yacht Club (NYYC). The clubhouse is part of Clubhouse Row, a concentration of clubhouses on 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark.

Many of the facade and interior decorations carry a maritime theme. The building's ornately decorated facade, on 44th Street, is clad with stone on its first four stories and is asymmetrically divided into four bays. The easternmost bay contains the entrance, while the western three bays contain double-height arches, ornamented with bay windows that resemble the sterns of ships. The upper stories are within a mansard roof that is slightly set back. Inside is a double-height entrance hall, visitors' room, and various other spaces in the basement and at ground level. On the second story is a double-height model room, measuring 45 by 100 feet (14 by 30 m) and containing over a thousand ship models. A private library/chartroom, dining rooms, and offices occupy the fourth story, and there are bedrooms on the remaining floors.

The NYYC, founded in 1844, was known for holding the America's Cup yachting trophy for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. By the 1890s, overcrowding at the club's previous headquarters prompted the NYYC to consider developing a new clubhouse. J. P. Morgan bought land for the new clubhouse on 44th Street in October 1898, and Warren & Wetmore won an architectural design competition for the building that December. The clubhouse formally opened on January 19, 1901, and has hosted the club's annual meetings and events since then. The clubhouse remained mostly unchanged during the 20th century, although some rooms were converted to different uses. The NYYC renovated the interior in the 1980s and restored the facade in 1992. The interior was renovated again for the clubhouse's centennial in 2001.