My teaser post from yesterday turned out to be not such a secret garden after all. The very first commenter nailed it as the rear courtyard of the E.B. Green-designed Twentieth Century Club, located in Allentown on Delaware Avenue. The Twentieth Century Club is another of Green's many masterpieces and is easily one of Buffalo's most refined buildings. The Delaware Avenue face is a meticulously detailed yet reserved Italian Renaissance Palazzo style building. This side of the building was constructed in front of the original clubhouse which was a converted church. The church was quickly demolished in favor of an expansion to the rear. The rear section includes the wonderful secluded garden and is rendered in a picturesque spanish style architecture.
The club was founded by women as a woman's social organization in the late 1800's. It was an out-growth of a Buffalo Seminary graduates group. One history I found noted that it was the first woman's social club in the country. It was located on the most prestigious stretch of Buffalo's most exclusive street and catered to woman of Buffalo's wealthiest families. It was common until very recently for women and men to socialize separately in separate clubs such as this. It was just a few years ago that the uber-exclusive Buffalo Club allowed women to enter their building through the front door.
I was given a tour of the Twentieth Century Club many years ago by a family acquaintance who was the maintenance custodian at the time. I vaguely remember it as a very old dark place but still very beautiful leaning toward the exotic. Imagine walking into an aging silent film star's mansion - that is what it was like. I believe that it has undergone extensive interior and exterior renovations in recent years and have heard that the interior is extraordinary.
The building had a brush with disaster 2 times in the last 4 decades. A fire destroyed the original (extremely beautiful in its own right) Temple Beth Zion building, which stood adjacent to the club on the north side. That building was demolished after the fire. The Temple moved further up Delaware to a new landmark structure. An undistinguished building stands as its replacement adjacent to the Twentieth Century Club. Another disastrous fire destroyed the elegant mansion directly to the south of the club about 10 years ago. All that was left of that building was three walls. Thankfully, through great foresight, those walls were saved and the building has been restored keeping an important part of Delaware Avenue intact.
Here are a few links for those interested in more information:
Twentieth Century Club history
History of the Woman's Club Movement in America
Interior
image courtesy of Mike Argento of Argento Photography. Check out their
web site. The site has images of several
weddings illustrating their unique take on such a special event.
How does one become a member of this club? Or maybe the question should be would anyone want to be a member of this club?