Lamb's Club The Chatwal New York | |
New York City Landmark No. 0859
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| Location | 128–132 West 44th Street, Manhattan, New York |
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| Coordinates | 40°45′23″N 73°59′05″W / 40.7565°N 73.9846°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1904–1905 |
| Architect | Stanford White, George Freeman |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 82003382[1] |
| NYCL No. | 0859 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 3, 1982 |
| Designated NYCL | September 24, 1974 |
The Chatwal New York, originally the Lambs Club Building, is a hotel and a former clubhouse at 130 West 44th Street, near Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building was originally six stories high and was developed in two phases as the headquarters of the Lambs, a theatrical social club. The original wing at 128–130 West 44th Street was designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White between 1904 and 1905; the annex at 132 West 44th Street was designed in 1915 by George Freeman. The current design dates to a renovation between 2007 and 2010, designed by Thierry Despont. The building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Lambs Club Building is variously cited as being designed in the Colonial, Neo-Georgian, or neoclassical styles. The ground floor of the facade is clad with smooth marble, while the upper stories are clad with red Flemish-bond brick, terracotta trim, and stone quoins at each end. The clubhouse's interior was originally designed in the Federal style, with club rooms on the lower stories and bedrooms for club members on the upper stories. The club rooms included auditoriums on the first and third floors; a dining room on the second floor; and a library and banquet room on the third floor. When the building was converted into a hotel, the first and second floors were converted into a bar and restaurant called the Lambs Club, while the upper floors were converted into 83 guestrooms.
The Lambs were founded in 1874 and relocated to multiple buildings over the years. By 1902, overcrowding at the club's previous headquarters prompted the Lambs to consider developing a new clubhouse, which opened on September 1, 1905. The clubhouse was expanded in 1915, but the Lambs faced financial troubles during the 1920s and 1930s because of competition from talking pictures. After the club experienced further financial difficulties in the 1970s, the clubhouse was sold at auction in 1975, and the Church of the Nazarene bought the clubhouse. The church used the building as a mission, while the theaters were leased to an off-Broadway venue called the Lamb's Theatre. The church announced plans to convert the building into a hotel in 1999 and sold the building in 2006 to Hampshire Hotels, operated by the family of Vikram Chatwal. The hotel and the Lambs Club restaurant opened in 2010, and the hotel became part of Starwood's Luxury Collection.