Lotos Club
The Lotos Club at 5 East 66th St., designed by Richard Howland Hunt
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| Motto |
In the afternoon they came unto a land |
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| Formation | March 15, 1870 |
| Type | Social club |
| Headquarters | 5 East 66th Street |
| Location | |
| Website | lotosclub.org |
In the afternoon they came unto a land
The Lotos Club was founded as a gentleman's club in New York City; it has since also admitted women as members. Its founders were primarily a young group of writers and critics. Mark Twain, an early member, called it the "Ace of Clubs". The Club took its name from the poem "The Lotos-Eaters" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which was then very popular. Lotos was thought to convey an idea of rest and harmony. Two lines from the poem were selected for the Club motto:
In the afternoon they came unto a land
In which it seemed always afternoon
The Lotos Club has always had a literary and artistic bent, with the result that it has accumulated a noted collection of American paintings. Its "State Dinners" (1893 menu at right) are legendary fetes for scholars, artists and sculptors, collectors and connoisseurs, writers and journalists, and politicians and diplomats. Elaborate souvenir menus are produced for these dinners.
The Lotos Club's first home was at Two Irving Place, off of 14th Street near the Academy of Music. Journalist DeWitt Van Buren was the Lotos Club's first president; he was succeeded by A. Oakey Hall. Other early Club officers included Vice President F.A. Schwab, Secretary George Hows, and Treasurer Albert Weber. New York Tribune editor Whitelaw Reid was elected Club president in 1877,at which time the Lotos Club moved to 149 Fifth Avenue at 21st Street.
In 1893, the Club moved to 556-558 Fifth Avenue at 46th Street, purchasing their first clubhouse.
It was at the Lotos Club in 1906 that George Harvey, editor of Harper's Weekly, sent up his first trial balloon by proposing Woodrow Wilson for the office of President of the United States. In 1909, with financial backing from Andrew Carnegie, the clubhouse was moved to 110 West 57th Street, in a building designed by architect Donn Barber.
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