colonyclub

This was taken in front of the original Colony Club Building (1904-1908) at 120 Madison Avenue in New York City. The Colony Club moved uptown, but the building's still there, and today used by the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. The AIA Guide to New York City notes that its architect, the renowned Stanford White, was assassinated during its construction only three blocks away. You can read a great New York Times article about the building here.

This was likely an exhibition of The Ladies' Four-in-Hand Driving Club. The Club’s founder and president was Helen Benedict Hastings, wife of the famous architect Thomas Hastings, designer of the New York Public Library, the front façade of the U.S. Capitol Building, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery. –National Sporting Library Mrs. Arthur Iselin (vice president), is seen here driving the coach (whip), with Mrs. Hastings seated next to her. Mrs, William Goadby Loew (Miss Florence B. Baker), seated to the rear, can be seen between them. The Ladies' Four-in-Hand Driving Club regularly made trips to and from the Colony Club.

"With the advent of Spring weather and the roads in good condition, the Ladies' Four-in-Hand Driving Club, an organization of enthusiastic horsewomen of this city, will inaugurate the 1912 coaching season with daily trips between the Colony Club and Rockingstone, Bronx Park." –New York Times

Mrs. Loew could well afford to indulge her whims in Bronx Park. She was an heiress; her father had left her 5 million. Her husband, William, was a stockbroker, noted for his snappy attire. In 1935, a panel of tailors voted him the best-dressed man in the country. William and his buddies once rode a coach-and-four 206 miles from Manhattan to Newport, RI, just to play polo. The trip, taken at a gallop, required 21 changes of horses. Here's the story, reported decades later, in a 1935 issue of Time Magazine: www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,748315,00.html

Wystan: typo fixed – thanks!

Wystan-- Thanks. Does look like it should be Hastings'. Will submit for update to the catalog record. --Jeff

I liked this picture because she has this aura of importance in it. She seemed like she was a "somebody". After searching her name I found out that she was a member of the Colony Club, an organization that was comprised of some of New York's brightest women.

They are in front of the Newport Casino, in the resort city of Newport, Rhode Island -- shown here in another Bain/LOC photo: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/4036734355/