The Nippon Club
161 West 93rd Street | also 159 West 93rd Street | Upper West Side | built 1910
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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.
- 1912
The Nippon Club moves into its remodeled clubhouse
The Nippon Club, founded by chemist Jokichi Takamine in 1905, buys three townhouses at 161 to 165 West 93rd Street in 1911 and hires architect John V. Van Pelt to merge them into one building. The $30,000 renovation blends Chicago School and Arts and Crafts styles outside with Japanese-style rooms inside, including a sukiyaki room. Members move into the new clubhouse in September 1912.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1922
The club mourns founder Jokichi Takamine
Jokichi Takamine, the chemist who founded the Nippon Club in 1905, dies in July 1922. His body is brought to the West 93rd Street clubhouse for a memorial service on July 24. The casket, draped with Japanese and American flags, is surrounded by more than 300 floral pieces from friends.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1944
The government sells the seized clubhouse to the Elks
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, police close the Nippon Club's clubhouse on December 7, 1941, and escort the twelve Japanese men inside to their homes. The federal Office of the Alien Property Custodian seizes the building and, on February 6, 1944, sells it to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The Elks dedicate it that December.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1968
A Seventh-day Adventist congregation buys the former clubhouse
After a stint as the headquarters of the American Theatre Wing, dedicated there by Mayor Robert F. Wagner in 1958, the former Nippon Club building is sold in 1968 to Iglesia Adventista Broadway, a Seventh-day Adventist church. The congregation converts the lower floors for worship and the upper floors for housing.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- 161 West 93rd StreetWikipedia
- The Nippon Club (Iglesia Adventista) -- 161 West 93rd StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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