Century Center for the Performing Arts
| Century Association | |
|---|---|
(2010)
|
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| Official name: Century Association Clubhouse | |
| Designated | July 15, 1982 |
| Reference no. | 82003369 |
| Location | 7 West 43rd St, Manhattan, New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°45′16″N 73°58′52″W / 40.75444°N 73.98111°W |
| Built | 1889-1891 |
| Architect | McKim, Mead & White |
| Architectural style | Italian Renaissance Revival |
| Official name: Century Association Clubhouse | |
| Designated | January 11, 1967 |
| Official name: Former Century Association Building | |
| Designated | January 5, 1993 |
| Location | 111 East 15th St, Manhattan, New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°44′06″N 73°59′20″W / 40.73500°N 73.98889°W |
| Built | 1847, 1857, 1867, 1869, 1878 |
| Architects | Originally Joseph C. Wells Later Charles Gambrill and H. H. Richardson |
| Architectural style | Neo-Grec |
The Century Association is a private club in New York City. It evolved out of an earlier organization – the Sketch Club, founded in 1829 by editor and poet William Cullen Bryant and his friends – and was established in 1847 by Bryant and others as a club to promote interest in the fine arts and literature which was open to "Artists, Literary Men, Scientists, Physicians, Officers of the Army and Navy, members of the Bench and Bar, Engineers, Clergymen, Representatives of the Press, Merchants and men of leisure." It was originally intended to have a limited membership of 100 men. Its early members included Bryant; painters Asher Durand, Winslow Homer, Jervis McEntee, and John Frederick Kensett; sculptor Paul Manship; architect Stanford White; judge Charles Patrick Daly; author Lewis Gaylord Clark; and architect Calvert Vaux, who, along with Frederick Law Olmsted, was the co-creator of Central Park. However, by the middle 1850s, the membership primarily consisted of merchants, businessmen, lawyers and doctors.
The Century possesses a notable art collection, including important works by Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Thomas Doughty, and other Hudson River School painters. It is also an important venue for the exhibition of contemporary art created by its members.
The club agreed to start admitting women members in 1989, after a strenuous legal battle.
The Century Association resulted from the merger of two earlier private clubs for men "of similar social standing or shared interests." The Sketch Club had focused on literature and the arts, while the Column Club had been a Columbia University alumni organization. The initial invitation for the combined club was sent to one hundred men, which became the basis for the name "The Century", later slightly altered to the Century Association.
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