New York Athletic Club

919 7th Avenue | also 180 Central Park South, 175 West 58th Street, 925 7th Avenue | Midtown | built 1929

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1929

    January 22

    The New York Athletic Club opens its third City House at 180 Central Park South

    The club held a cornerstone ceremony at 180 Central Park South in November 1927, and the third City House formally opened on January 22, 1929. It followed a first City House at Sixth Avenue and West 55th Street, opened in February 1885, and a second at Sixth Avenue and West 59th Street, opened on March 26, 1898.

    Source: nyac.org

  2. 1929

    The 24-story City House holds a pool, courts, a judo hall and 187 guest rooms

    The 24-story City House, finished in 1929, looks out over Central Park. Inside are a swimming pool, a gym, basketball and squash courts, golf simulators, a judo hall, a fencing and wrestling room and two boxing rings. Members and guests also have two restaurants, a cocktail lounge and 187 rooms to stay in.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1933

    The Tap Room opens at the New York Athletic Club as Prohibition ends

    The club's Tap Room opened in 1933, marking the end of Prohibition. The first All-Sports Dinner, held in 1932 at the height of Prohibition, preceded it by a year. Both date from the early years of the club's third City House at 180 Central Park South, which had opened in January 1929.

    Source: nyac.org

  4. 1936

    Track athlete Marty Glickman is turned away at the club's lobby after the 1936 Games

    In 1936 Eddie O'Sullivan invited the Jewish Olympic track athlete Marty Glickman to work out with him at the New York Athletic Club. Once Glickman reached the lobby, athletic director Paul Pilgrim sent him away, and Glickman believed he was refused because he was Jewish. The episode figures among the accusations that the club shut out Black and Jewish people.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1945

    A lobby memorial honors the 1,200 members who served in the Second World War

    The club unveiled a war memorial in the lobby of City House in 1945, honoring the 1,200 members who had served in the Second World War. A memorial window from 1922 had already honored 20 members lost in the First World War, and 900 who served in it. In 1941 the club's Travers Island property had become home to the Norwegian army.

    Source: nyac.org

  6. 1964

    May

    Civil rights demonstrators picket the club over its exclusion of Black and Jewish members

    In May 1964 demonstrators from the Congress of Racial Equality picketed the New York Athletic Club, shouting slogans that called for the integration of Black and Jewish people into the club. Two years earlier, in February 1962, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. had resigned his membership over allegations that the club barred Black and Jewish members.

    “In May 1964, the club was picketed by demonstrators from the Congress for Racial Equality who shouted slogans calling for integration…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 1989

    After a long legal fight, the club changes its bylaws and admits women

    Founded as a men's club, the New York Athletic Club was one of four clubs the city sanctioned for defying a 1984 law requiring large private clubs to admit women. The clubs challenged the law, and in June 1988 the Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court without ruling on the merits. Facing the cost of continuing alone, the club changed its bylaws in 1989 and voluntarily admitted some women.

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2003

    January 26

    Garry Kasparov plays the computer program Deep Junior to a draw at the club

    From January 26 to February 7, 2003, Garry Kasparov sat down at City House to play the chess program Deep Junior, in a match broadcast around the world. Over the two weeks of games the contest finished level, with neither the champion nor the machine ahead.

    Source: nyac.org

  9. 2017

    May 26-29

    The club hosts the U.S. National Snooker Championship, won by Raymond Fung

    The club hosted the whole U.S. National Snooker Championship from May 26 to 29, 2017, when Raymond Fung beat Ahmed Aly Elsayed 5-4 in the final. It had also staged the 2004 championship playoffs on June 26 and 27, and it hosted the 2021 edition in October, when Elsayed won 5-0 against Ajeya Prabhakar.

    Source: snookerusa.com

Further reading

Nearby

All 178 buildings with stories in Midtown