Society of Illustrators
128 East 63rd Street | Upper East Side | built 1875
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1875
William P. Read builds the carriage house at 128 East 63rd Street
In 1875, William P. Read, personal secretary to financier J. P. Morgan, built a carriage house at 128 East 63rd Street. As automobiles replaced horses and the Park Avenue rail trench was covered over, two brothers bought the building in 1908, converting it into a residence and turning its stable into a squash court. They lived there until 1939.
Source: societyillustrators.org
- 1908
Two brothers move into the former carriage house and turn it into a home
As cars replaced horses, 128 East 63rd Street, built in 1875 as a carriage house, was bought by two brothers who lived in it from 1908 to 1939. The pair turned the carriage house into a home, and its old stable area became a squash court.
Source: societyillustrators.org
- 1939
Norman Rockwell donates Dover Coach as the backdrop for the new fourth-floor bar
To mark the Society's new home, Norman Rockwell gave it his painting Dover Coach, which served as the backdrop of the bar on the fourth floor. It now hangs in the Members Dining Room. Rockwell later became the first person inducted into the Society's Hall of Fame, in 1958.
“Norman Rockwell's Dover Coach became the backdrop for the bar on the fourth floor, donated by Rockwell in honor of the Society's new building.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1939
The Society of Illustrators buys its East 63rd Street headquarters
Founded on February 1, 1901, by nine artists and one business adviser, the Society of Illustrators bought this building at 128 East 63rd Street in 1939, and it has been the society's home ever since. It started a Hall of Fame for illustrators in 1958, with Norman Rockwell as its first honoree.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1939
Architect Leo "Sport" Ward gives the new headquarters a cobalt-glass facade
Soon after the Society of Illustrators purchased the carriage house in August 1939, architect Leo "Sport" Ward renovated it in exchange for living quarters inside. His design wrapped the lower three stories of the front in blue cobalt glass, even coloring the door to match. The blue glass eventually proved too costly to maintain and was covered over.
Source: societyillustrators.org
- 1951
Renovations finish a third-floor lounge and library for members
By 1951 work on the third floor was complete, giving members a lounge and a library in the room that is now the bar. The bar itself, with Rockwell's Dover Coach behind it, was then on the fourth floor, in what is now the library. In the early 1960s the lounge was rearranged into a dining room and bar.
Source: societyillustrators.org
- 1968
Columbia Pictures rushes the gallery renovation so it can film Loving at the Society
In 1968 the street-level gallery, open since the 1950s, began its first renovations. Former president Howard Munce had arranged to rent the building as a location for Loving, a film about an illustrator starring George Segal and Eva Marie Saint. To meet a shooting deadline, Columbia Pictures helped finish the work fast and had a tree planted at the curb outside the front door.
Source: societyillustrators.org
- 1981
The Museum of American Illustration opens at the society
Under society president John Witt, the Museum of American Illustration was established in the building in 1981. In August 2012 the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art gave its assets to the society, which has since supported the MoCCA Festival.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2001
Remodeled galleries and a glass front door prepare the Society for its centennial
Twenty years after the museum galleries were created, members and president Judy Francis Zankel backed a remodel ahead of the Society's centennial and Founders' Day on February 1, 2001. The red front door gave way to glass so that the public would feel more welcome, and a piece of the old door now hangs at the bar.
Source: societyillustrators.org
- 2011
R. Crumb's drawings fill the galleries in a show curated by Monte Beauchamp
From March 23 to April 11, 2011, the Society's main galleries hosted R. Crumb: Lines Drawn on Paper, curated by Monte Beauchamp. The same galleries later held shows on Maurice Sendak in 2013 and Will Eisner in 2017.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2019
Illustrating Batman fills the galleries with eighty years of comics and pop culture
From June 12 to October 12, 2019, the Society's galleries presented Illustrating Batman: Eighty Years of Comics and Pop Culture. The show was curated by Rob Pistella, John Lind and Chip Kidd.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Society of IllustratorsWikipedia
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