111-113 East 54th Street: The Brook

The Brook,
111-113 East 54th Street
Delano & Aldrich, 1925

The Brook, a private men’s club, is housed in an extremely refined building that typifies the architecture of the prominent firm of Delano & Aldrich. With its white marble base and modest entrance portico, and its red brick upper floors highlighted with marble roundels and rectangular panel, the building resembles the houses designed by Robert Adam and other architects on the squares of 18th-century London, many of which had been converted into private men’s clubs. The Brook was founded in 1903 by a group of wealthy club men who wanted a place where they could retreat after other local clubs, notably The Century, had closed for the evening. Among the founders were Stanford White, Frederick Gebhard, Oliver Belmont, Thomas Clarke, William K. Vanderbilt, and Livingston Beekman. The name, The Brook, was chosen to symbolize the fact that members might come and go but service would flow on forever. Before moving to East 54th Street, the club had occupied homes in two former residential buildings – on East 35th and East 40th Streets. As the East 40th Street location became more commercial a decision was made to move to a new site farther uptown, purchasing 111 East 54th Street and commissioning club member William A. Delano to design the new clubhouse.

References:

Clarke, Thomas B., “History of the Brook,” The Brook (New York, 1962).