Buffet/Babcock Room


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These two adjoined rooms are located on the Southern end of the third floor of the Clubhouse and accessed via grand staircase and elevator.  These two recently renovated rooms are ideal for mid-to-large size events. The Babcock Room is a cozy room and an elegant setting for cocktails which you can then move from to the adjoining room for dinner.  Or set up an elaborate food buffet in one room and seating in the other room.  There is plenty of space to have live musicians for dinner music and guest dancing.  A bar can be set up in either room.  

The Babcock Room features new art gallery lighting in the ceiling that is ideal for exhibition tables, demonstrations, or an art display.  The larger, adjoining Buffet Room is the same dimensions as the Pine Room one floor below.  Both rooms were recently renovated with new lighting and repainted with vibrant colors to highlight the woodwork and crown molding.  The Babcock Room features spectacular chandeliers acquired from the Lord & Taylor department store on Fifth Avenue that hung in that store's main shopping floor for 120 years.  The Club regularly hosts art gallery exhibitions in the space.

The Babcock Room is named after Samuel Denison Babcock (1822-1902) who served as Club Vice President from 1877 to 1880 and President from 1880 to 1900, longer than any other until the current Club President. His painted portrait hangs above the fireplace.  He served as chairman of the Club's building committee for the current 1887 clubhouse development. Professionally, he was president of the International Bell Telephone Company, vice president of the Providence and Stonington Steamship Company and the City and Suburban Homes Association. He was the founder and first president of the Guaranty Trust Company and a partner of Hollister & Babcock, brokers. He was a prominent director of many businesses particularly insurance, real estate and railroad companies. He served as president of the New York Chamber of Commerce from 1875 to 1882 and was active in the Democratic party of New York, once being offered the office of Governor.
The Buffet Room is named after the Club's use of the room as a luncheon buffet, which was a more casual setting versus the A la Carte Main Dining Room across the hall on the same floor.