In 1950, The New York Times called the City Club of New York "a social club with a civic purpose"[1] whose members "fought for adequate water supply, the extension of rapid transit lines, lower costs of foreclosure in private homes, and the merit system in civil service, [as well as] ... traffic relief, the prevention of juvenile delinquency.
[4] The City Club was founded as a gentlemen's club in March 1892[5][6] by a group of 23 men, including such prominent names as August Belmont, Jr., James C. Carter, John Jay Chapman, R. Fulton Cutting, W. Bayard Cutting, Charles DeKay, George C. Magoun, George Haven Putnam, and John Woodruff Simpson.
[1] The City Club's first target was Tammany Hall; they helped the Lexow Committee probe into police corruption, and worked to elect William Lafayette Strong in 1895 as the reform mayor of New York.
[1] In 1913 the City Club commissioned a large boulder to commemorate the burial site of Captain Thomas Willett (died 1674), the first English mayor of New York, at Little Neck Cemetery, East Providence, Rhode Island.
They published an annual "Murder Map," documenting the deaths of children due to traffic accidents and other unsafe urban conditions.
[12] The City Club caused controversy In 1967 in a strongly worded article by activist Chairman I. D. Robbins about the perceived failures of the John Lindsay administration, particularly in regard to housing.
Recipients included John Chancellor, Walter Cronkite, Lloyd Goodrich, Ada Louise Huxtable, Willie Mays, Arthur Mitchell, Bess Myerson, John Bertram Oakes, Joseph Papp, I. M. Pei, Dorothy Schiff, Neil Simon, Preston Robert Tisch, and Lila Bell Wallace.
[6] In 2018, the City Club sued to stop construction of Little Island at Pier 55, which led to the plans for the park being scrapped.
[8] By the early 1900s, the City Club commissioned its own clubhouse at 55 West 44th Street, which was designed by architect Austin W. Lord and erected in 1904.
[25] Notable City Club of New York officers, past and present The Albert S. Bard Award (full name Albert S. Bard Award for Distinguished Architecture and Urban Design) created in 1962 and administered by the City Club, honored those who helped enrich the intellectual and cultural life of the community through architecture and urban design.
"[35] Award juries were composed of a rotating group of top architects and urban planners, as well as City Club of New York officers.