The New York Times from New York, New York • Page 38

THE NEW YORK TIMES-ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE. 12 a rare ujsw cltjbhotjse. KW TORK mar wU be proud ol bar newest building, the new University Club struoture at the northwest corner of Titty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue. In ooorae of cons traction for the nut two veers and now thrown open, complete tare for a few of the finishing touches. In anera of notable buildings this stands out aa altogether remarkable.

It simple elegance without and within Is most striking feature. Architecturally, any thought of attaining magnificence has evidently been disregarded, with the result that the great building from root to basement satisfies. No succession of gorgeously appointed rooms greets the eye. Instead, one stately apartment follows another. Imply treated, never overloaded or heaped upon with gorgeousness.

.1 It will be some weeks If not months before this building; appears as it Is really to be. There Is still, of course, an unfinished state about it. a constant uetlJm that its rooms have not yet been lived m. From each stretch of wall to the last chair lnthe library all la too new and too fresh properly to estimate how well chosen everything has been. Borne mural paint-, tags are yet to be put into place, the lunettes of the library are still bare, the great panel of the celling of the lounging room on the entrance floor will later on contain some vividly painted scene of history, where now there Is only an effect of feathery clouds.

Therefore the clubhouse is still Incomplete. a fact that the writer realised very strongly when be came to superintend, several days ago, the making of the pictures that accompany this article. These pictures give a faint Indication of bareness, which Is hardly Just to the beautiful building, for beautiful in every sense It really Is. This much being said at the beginning It now only remains to take up the structure In detail. But first a word regarding the dub Itself.

It Is more than worth walla- to touch upon this, since for many years now the Dntver- -slty Club has stood the front, rank, of -the clubs of the town. Its present building and Its distinguished membership render it now second to none of the social organisations of New Tork or London. This- Is especially interesting, for the University" Club made a poor beginning, and found It necessary at one time-to retire from public life as a club. There Is thus the more credit to the men of position and mark that have put it on Its present pinnacle. Very: nearly forty years have gone by since the club was first suggested, and of these forty the last twenty alone have been responsible for the organisation's progress.

The main facts of the club's history will assuredly not be out of place. During the Winter of 1862-1883 a few law students-all Tale men as It happened, and the oldest of whom went back no further than the class et '60-got in the habit of meeting at the home of F. E. Kern oc ban, 145 Second Avenue. The Informal organisation they brought about came to be 'known as the Red Room from Its meeting place.

The men of the Red Room Club ere William C. Whitney." Eugene Schuyler. Luther M. Jones, R. O.

Williams. William -H. Fuller. Buchanan Wlnthrop, Alfred J.Taylor, R. K.

Weeks. H. F. Dlmock, and" Henry Holt The ambitions of these men ran far ahead of such a small organization, however, and on April 28. 1888, graduates of other colleges having- been Interested, the University Club was incorporated, a bouse on Ernst Tenth Street near Broadway, being taken In the Winter of 1880.

Some of the Incorporators and early members, besides the gentlemen already mentioned, were Theodore Woolsey Dwlght John Taylor Johnston, Joseph H. Cfaoate, Russell Sturgls. George Van Nest Baldwin, Edmund Wetmore. Edward Cooper, Henry R. Wlnthrop, Charles Astor BrUted, Edward Mitchell.

Charles F. Chandler, and George T. Strong. Powerful as Its directorate was the University Club languished in those days, nevertheless. Along In 1874 the clubhouse had been given up, and all that remained of 'he organisation was the University Dining Club, composed of twenty-four survivors.

Early In 1879 a club on the old basis commenced to be talked of. The plan was taken I LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE ROOF OF, THE UNTVEBSTTT CLUBHOUSE. St Patrick! Cathedral on the Left-and Bt Thomas's Church on the Right -I HALLWAT OF THE UNIVERSITY CLUB. TO THE MAIN EN- up so Instantly and enthusiastically that before the year: was out the new club was under way and the house at the corner of Wth Avenue -and Thirty-fifth Street, the present home of the New Tork Club, was In this house the library, now started. rTyrra-w i I 11 1 Ifc i'- to admirable proportions, was Later tha elnK tk.

"by; which it has long been known, the Frenchified Jerome Mansion across the way from the Madison Square Garden, before that the house of the Union League. MAT 24, 1888. Each stick and each stone of the new building seem to typify its purpoee. Wen up on Fifth Avenue, on the site of the' grounds of St Luke's Hospital, the old. It towers to the height of all the church steeples near by.

From Its roof to the south the top of Bt Thomas's Is in than relief, a new and pleasing aspect of the famous sanctuary, and St Patrick twlq towers gleam out picturesquely. Looking to the north a huge square of verdure, a set amid brick and stone. Is Centra Park. seen In a fresh light Besides these Fifth Avenue, especially to the southward, stands out In bold panorama. This roof will be an admirable resting place for a' hot Summer's night and it la part of the club's programme to have here what will probably be the most attractive roof garden In all New Tork.

Very nearly one half of the roof Is sheltered by a trelUa house of green. The remainder Is left bare, protected by a broad stone coping. A granite that seems In certain lights to add to Its gray a pinkish tone is the material of the exterior. Very curious is the de- sign. Apparently there are but three to-rieev actually there are eight The window arrangement Indicates the possibility of two additional stories of.

small height but no more. The clubman la thus surprised when he come to journey through the house to find eight floors. This has been acsonv pllshed by a variety of niceties of construction. The building has three main floo rathe entrance, the library, and the dining room two bedroom floors so deftly fitted in that, they are not apparent from the outside, and three meaxanlnes, which, however, are only partial floors in that they do not extend across the entire building, but crop up here and there bewildertndjr. 1 They make possible, however, a number of cap.

1 tally arranged smaller rooms, kitchen and servants quarters completely Isolated, without taking away the great space required for the chief, the show apartments. Graceful In its lines, the effect of the building from without Is much added to by Its ornamentation. The keystones of the tiers of the chief stories have striking heads upon them. The first tier show mythological characters, nymphs and satyrs in profusion. Above ap- pear the poets of the world Milton, Shakespeare, Dante, and Goethe-adorning the Fifth Avenue front The third row displays heads of animals.

Stones set at regular intervals along the front ehow the seals of colleges In giant relief. Over the entrance floor, up on a row of balconies, which act-, ually communicate with the lowest bedroom floor, are placed flower pots, whose bushes of green set handsomely against the granite of the walls. A square reception hall, stone-floored and rugged, first meets the clubman's eye. It la 25 feet In height 60 long, and 60 wide, and white, green, and gold are the colors that been used to gain the effecta There Is much charm and usefulness In this hall, it Is a fitting Introduction to the rest of the house, and Charles F. McKlm Is to be congratulated upon It.

The green of the room Is to be found In the great columns of Irish Cccnemara marble, 22 feet In height the first time columns of such else have been brought from Irish quarries. The capitals of these columns are Doric, and. with the frieze above, are richly gilded. The walla are of an Italian mosaic, polished. Up in tn rlese of each side wall there is medallion In relief of gold of the Eagle and Wreath of Trajan's Forum.

In the lounging room, properly a drawing room, just off this square hallway. Is to be found the first of the three state apartments of the big house. Red, gold, and blue constitute the color scheme of this room, which extends down the entire Fifth Avenue front, ninety-five feet Red is, however. Its chief tone. The furniture Is all of a red velvet the carpet red.

the walls a rich velvet ve-lour, not an of which Is In place as yet and which, a special la being made by French peasants. The woodwork here, the pilasters separating, the panels of velour. Ii a very beautiful Italian walnut It would be hard to find In New Tork anything more exquisite than this ceiling will be when the painting planned Is added to the panel In the centre. The ornament around this panel Is to superb relief of red. gold, and blue, with the gold the dominant vHe.

Several LIBRAS OF THE UNTVERSITT CLUB. I i- 1 7 i i MAIN DINttra BOOM 0 THB UNIVERSITY CLUB..