New York Yacht Club

History and architecture

A brilliant synthesis of the Beaux-Arts tenets of character and composition, the New York Yacht Club Building marked the debut of the noted New York architectural firm of Warren & Wetmore. Built in 1899-1900 in the fashionable clubhouse district along 43rd and 44th Streets, the building became the fifth home of the country's most prestigious yachting organization.

Founded in 1844 by a group of nine. New York yachtsmen aboard a schooner anchored off the Battery, the New York Yacht Club is the foremost and oldest yachting institution in the country. Established during the era of the great China Clippers, the club was incorporated for the purpose of encouraging yacht building and naval architecture and the cultivation of naval science."' The New York Yacht Club was established during an era of unprecedented commercial and industrial expansion.

In 1851 buoyed by its industrial success, England invited the world to a great industrial exhibition where it challenged the other nations to present examples of their modern technology. The summer of 1851 was filled with related events to amuse the visitors to the exhibition. In this spirit of rivalry a full schedule of yachting events had been planned, no doubt to remind the world of England's historical supremacy of the sea.

As early as the autumn of 1850 an enthusiastic English merchant suggested that a group of New York businessmen enter one of the city's speedy pilot boats into competition for the Royal Yacht Squadron Cup which was a celebrated prize given by England's leading yacht club. John C. Stevens and George L. Schuyler, two of the founding members of the newly established New York Yacht Club took up the English challenge. The two yachtsmen turned to the skills of George Steers who was known to design the fastest pilot boats in the New York area.

The son of an English shipwright, Steers had made an early reputation for himself in the New York area by designing successful racing boats. Although his business activity dealt primarily with pilot boats, Steers had continued to produce designs for serious yachtsmen, including several members of the New York Yacht Club. In 1850 at the age of 30, Steers was employed by the city's leading shipbuilder, William H. Brown, whose boatyard was located at the foot of 12th Street on the East River.

With the facilities of Brown's boatyard at his disposal, Steers designed and supervised the construction of the famous yacht America which on August 22, 1851, swept past fifteen international competitors to win the famous English yachting cup which cane to bear her name. In 1867 the America's owners presented the cup to the New York Yacht Club which has continued to dominate this celebrated yachting competition. The ardent sponsorship of and interest in innovative boat design has continued to shape the membership of the New York Yacht Club.