[3] It was most recently housed in a Colonial Revival brick building at the corner of Washington Avenue (New York State Route 5) and Dove Street.
When that house burned down in the 1920s, Albany architects the Fuller & Robinson company designed the current main building to replace it.
Speakers at its events in its early years included President William Howard Taft, Andrew Carnegie, Earl Grey and various governors of New York.
[6] The club's complex occupies the three buildings on the lot along Dove between Washington and Elk Street, at the northwest corner of the intersection.
Across Dove Street are the Classical Revival Harmanus Bleecker Library and Albany Institute of History and Art, both with portions designed by Albert Fuller as well.
[2] The main club building is a three-story five-by-five-bay structure of brick laid in Flemish bond with wooden trim on a raised limestone basement topped by a flat roof.
At the north end of the main block, a set of steps lead up from the street, which has no sidewalk, to an elaborate entrance portico.
Above them, on the first story, 12-over-16 double-hung sash windows are set in recessed arched openings with keystones and splayed-brick lintels.
Four clusters of paired round fluted Ionic columns, with the two on the sides having a third, topped by a classical entablature and frieze, support a flat roof with iron balustrade.
[2] To the north the two-story wing continues the brickwork and window treatment on the main block, minus the recessed arches on the first story, except in the northern two of its eight bays.
In the former direction, the basement has a large lounge, bar and dining area in the front, with terrazzo flooring and a four-lane bowling alley in the rear.
On its west is the large living room and meeting space that runs the full length of that side of the building.
[2] That latter organization was one of four prominent clubs in the city at the time, all of which had a waiting list for membership at least three years long.
[7] After two meetings at the old Albany Academy building in Lafayette Park attracted 140 interested young men, the club was incorporated and chartered.
"[2] They chose as their motto the Latin phrase Sapere Aude — Incipe, meaning "Dare to be wise — Begin".
Six years later, the club bought another former residence at the current location, previously the home of the late George Amsdell, owner of Albany's largest brewery at that time.
It set about spending $10,000 ($327,000 in modern dollars[8]) to remodel the three-bay Queen Anne style structure with a prominent angular, turreted bay for use as a clubhouse.
The club entertained guest speakers such as Andrew Carnegie and Governor Charles Evans Hughes the following year.
More than 300 attended the club's annual dinner at the Ten Eyck Hotel, leading the Times Union to claim that "probably more distinguished men were at the speaker's table than at any other banquet ever held in Albany.
[7] The following year it began construction of what is now the north wing in order to provide space for a restaurant and additional sleeping rooms.
Their new wing, with brick surfaces, clean lines, symmetries and flat roof, was a radical change from the asymmetric, angular and irregular building it was attached to.
Finally, in 1917, with U.S. entry into the war, the club voted to excuse any member absent by virtue of military service outside the city from paying dues for the duration of hostilities.
It remained standing and structurally sound, but enough of the interior was exposed to the elements during the subsequent winter that the club decided to replace it.
Either by himself or with different firms, he had designed a number of the city's notable buildings during that period, many today listed on the National Register.
By autumn it was apparent that it had been a success, as October and November were the best months for business the club had recorded up to that point.