History
Originally called the New York Sketch Class, and later called the New York Sketch Club, the Salmagundi Club had its beginnings at the eastern edge of Greenwich Village in sculptor Jonathan Scott Hartley's Broadway studio, where a group of artists, students, and friends at the National Academy of Design, which at the time was located at Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third Street, gathered weekly on Saturday evenings.
The club formally changed its name to The Salmagundi Sketch Club in January 1877. The name has variously been attributed to salmagundi, a stew which the group has served from its earliest years, or, to Washington Irving's Salmagundi Papers.
Growing rapidly, and housed in many temporary locations, the club was at 14 West Twelfth Street for some years. In 1917, the club purchased the 1852 Irad Hawley brownstone townhouse at 47 Fifth Avenue between East Eleventh and East Twelfth Streets, constructing a large two-story addition in the backyard to house its main art galleries and billiard room. The building was designated a historical landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1969. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
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