Harmonie Club

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Harmonie Club's facade fronting East 60th Street in Manhattan

The Harmonie Club is a social club in New York City. It was founded in 1852 as a singing and dining association for New Yorkers of German Jewish descent.

The club was reportedly formed in response to the inability of some prominent Jews to be admitted to the major social clubs of the day, which had tacit policies of discrimination. It was so successful that by 1884 the New York Times could report that "many of New-York's leading German citizens are connected" with the Club. In 1905 it moved into new premises at 4 East 60th Street; the new building was designed by Stanford White; the earlier had been designed by Herts and Tallant, who had also designed the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Coram Library at Bates College.

The membership was originally entirely Jewish, and it served as the location of the meetings of the American Jewish Committee for several years, especially in the tumultuous 1930s^[1]; it took a leading role in resettling refugees from the Nazis and in ensuring their contribution to the Allied war effort.

Over the years its political role in the community appeared to have moderated, and it became more of a social centre, as well as extending its membership to include non-German Jews; In 1987 it was the location of the world's 'most charitable' bridge game, which raised $62,000^[2].

[edit] Recent Years

Former president and New York businessman E. Dale Hermindinger stated that the club was all Jewish, but only because non-Jews were not interested in joining. “The heritage of the club is that it’s a Jewish club,” he said, “and while we would love to have people of other religions and races, no one seems interested in joining” said it's president, Dr. Alfred Knap in in a October 10, 2007 New York Times interview. An earlier New York Times article estimated that in 1995 the 1200 members were only "ninety percent Jewish"^[3], but in 2001 Mike Bloomberg caused a stir by resigning his lifelong membership at protest at the lack of diversity; the club had no African-American or Latino members^[4].

More recently, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's pick for head of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Dale Hemmerdinger, a former president of the club, was forced to resign his membership following accusations that it was racist leveled by members of the New York State Assembly^[5]. Mr. Spitzer's spokesman denied the charge that the club was discriminatory. It was later revealed that Spitzer's father Bernard Spitzer has been a member for more than 30 years.^[6] ^[7]. Barack Obama cancelled a fundraiser for his presidential campaign that was to be held there, citing concerns that the club had no minority members^[8], and Rudy Giuliani weathered pressure to do the same. Also in 2007, Barack Obama canceled a planned fundraiser at the club because of the policy.^[9]