The Salmagundi Club of New York is one of the country’s oldest arts organizations, founded in 1871 by artists and patrons to support one another. The clubhouse occupies a beautiful, landmarked brownstone at 47 Fifth Avenue.

Originally built in 1853 for Irad Hawley, president of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, and his wife Sarah, it’s the last surviving brownstone on lower Fifth Avenue. It is in the National Register of Historic Places.

I’ve been honored to display half a dozen photographs at the Salmagundi Club over the past few years in their open photography exhibitions. I also played a series of Banksy-esque pranks there! I mounted a piece of art illicitly, and then dressed as a cat burglar and stole it (with a suitably attired accomplice who shall remain unnamed). My Salmagundi Cat Burglary caper may have been the reason my membership application was rejected last year!

However, I feel that all is forgiven since they accepted two of my works in their 46th annual open photography exhibition. I was beyond thrilled to win an award for my photograph “Watertower Moon,” which I took the night of the first George Floyd protests in May 2020. It was a night of chaos in response to a tragic event. The streets of New York burned, but peace reigned on the rooftops.

With over 1,100 members, the not-for-profit club mounts dozens of exciting exhibitions each year, as well as many weekly events and affordable classes that are open to the public. Come to the club to view the art, take a sketch class, or learn the tango. Exhibition hours: Monday-Friday, 1:00-6:00 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m.

The club has been undergoing a minor facelift to the front entrance, with more work planned in the coming months. It takes a lot of TLC to look great when you’re 171! Visitors are welcome to explore the first three floors of the building. The spacious parlor, galleries, hallways, staircases, and bar have been carefully preserved. When you step inside, you’ll feel you have gone back in time to a more tranquil, gracious era.

This article first appeared in Chelsea News and other papers in the Straus News group.

Style Notes

• Winter white wool crepe dress with structured neckline and unique wrap-around vinyl grass print hemline, from Andrea T New York’s first collection. 147 West 35th Street (by appointment only).
• Anthony Wang Ocho Toros reflective moonstar platform boots. Buffalo Exchange, 114 West 26th Street.

I took this photo on the 51st floor of a building at Hudson Yards, facing east. I love the waveriness of the multi-layered reflections in the glass building and the soft blues and golds of the sunset sky and Hudson river.