From the time The Lambs first met in December 1874 to today, the Fold has met in many locations. Our longest spell was 128-130 West 44th Street (1905-1975) followed by our current clubhouse, 3 West 51st Street (1976-today).
1874: Delmonico’s Restaurant, northeast corner of 5th Avenue and 14th street, near Union Square. This was where the first gathering of the founding members of the club met, Christmas Week 1874.
1875: Maison Doree (Morton House), south side of 14th Street, across from Union Square. [NYPL Photo]
1876-1877: 848 Broadway, “The Matchbox,” next to Wallack’s Theater, between 13th and 14th Street.
1877-1878: The Union Square Hotel (then at the Monument House) 6 Union Square, where the Club leased the entire 2nd floor.
1878: Brownstone at 19 East 16th Street.
1880-1891: Brownstone at 34 West 26th Street (since demolished).
1891: Temporarily located at the Gilsey House, northeast corner of 1200 Broadway and 29th Street. [Photo: By Beyond My Ken – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12204758]
1892: 8 West 29th Street.
1893-1896: 26 West 31st Street. The Club expanded so much in this era that a much larger space was required.
1897-1905: 70 West 36th Street. Formerly and thereafter Keen’s Chophouse, remodeled by Stanford White to be a clubhouse.
1905-1975: 128-130 West 44th Street. A palatial club house designed by Stanford White; doubled in 1915. The Lambs on 44th street in 1905; Membership had reached 667. In 1918, a mirror-image extension was added, doubled in size by architect George A. Freeman (White died in 1906). In early 1975 the Club decided to save the organization and walked away, leaving the building as part of a bankruptcy settlement. In May 0f 1975 the building was purchased by the Manhattan Church of the Nazarene. In late 1976 The Lambs relocated to 3 West 51st Street. In 2005 the building was sold to Sant Singh Chatwal, and it opened in 2010 as the Chatwal Hotel, featuring The Lambs Club Restaurant by Jeffrey Zakarian. Remodeled in 2007 and is now the site of the Chatwal Hotel.
1975: The Lotos Club, 5 East 66th Street (and sometimes Sardi’s) for a period of under a year until new quarters could be leased.
1976 to present: 3 West 51st Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, closer to Fifth. The Lambs lease most of the fifth floor. We share space in the pub and restaurant (Floor 2M) and the Solarium (9th Floor). We also have access to 28 hotel rooms, managed by the 3 West Club.