Estonian House

243 East 34th Street | Murray Hill | built 1899

Open on the map4 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1899

   Thomas A. Gray designs a Beaux-Arts clubhouse for F. Norton Goddard's Civic Club

   Wealthy reformer F. Norton Goddard funds a clubhouse for his Civic Club, an organization fighting poverty, unsafe housing, and gambling on the East Side. Brooklyn architect Thomas A. Gray designs the French Beaux-Arts building, completed in 1899, with a rusticated base, a bowed second-floor window, and a mansard roof.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

2. 1900

   The Civic Club hosts a ferryboat excursion for 14,000 poor women and children

   The Civic Club runs one of its annual ferryboat excursions for residents of the East Side tenement district. About 14,000 women and children take part, receiving milk, ice cream, and fruit while brass bands play aboard. Founder F. Norton Goddard personally organizes the outings as part of the club's anti-poverty work.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

3. 1946

   The New York Estonian Educational Society buys the former Civic Club building

   The Civic Club dissolves after Goddard's 1905 death, and his widow Alice Winthrop Goddard keeps the building until her own death. In 1946 the New York Estonian Educational Society buys the clubhouse for $25,000, turning it into the New York Estonian House and a hub for Estonian cultural and educational organizations.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

4. 1978

   The city designates the former Civic Club a landmark

   The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the 1899 Beaux-Arts building a city landmark, and it joins the National Register of Historic Places four years later. By then the building has served for decades as the New York Estonian House, home to the newspaper Vaba Eesti Sona and other Estonian organizations.

   Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

• Civic Club / Estonian HouseWikipedia
• Unselfish Wealth -- The 1899 Civic Club - 243 East 34th StreetDaytonian in Manhattan

Nearby

• St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral630 2nd Avenue | 10 entries
• Milton Glaser Inc.207 East 32nd Street | 5 entries
• Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations350 East 35th Street | 1 entry
• Kips Bay Towers300 East 33rd Street | 8 entries
• Armenian Evangelical Church of New York152 East 34th Street | 4 entries
• Sarge's Delicatessen & Diner548 3rd Avenue | 5 entries

All 26 buildings with stories in Murray Hill