A Holland Society Tour of the old Dutch Tap Room at the Grolier Club in Manhattan
On Friday March 15th, Holland Society members had a chance to experience and old Dutch ‘tapperij’ (Dutch for tap room) at the Grolier Club, America’s oldest and largest society for bibliophiles and enthusiast in the graphic arts.
Founded in 1884 and named for Jean Grolier (1489/90-1565), the Renaissance collector renowned for sharing his library with friends, the Club’s objective is to promote “the study, collecting, and appreciation of books and works on paper.”
The Grolier Club’s Eve Kahn led the sold-out tour of Holland Society members and Young Georgians on a private tour of the club’s members-only spaces. This included the soaring Neoclassical research library with 100,000 volumes, the exhibition hall, book-lined conference and meeting rooms, and the terrace. The Grolier Clubs beautiful staircase is lined with historic maps and the Grolier Club’s Presidents including Frederick Coyckendall, who was the Club’s President from 1935 to 1939.
The tour ended on the fourth floor of the Grolier Club which holds the Dutch Tapperij. The tapperij is a testament to the Gilded Age’s fascination with New York’s earliest days and the Knickerbocker aristocracy.
Grolier Club member Frederick A. Castle, a physician and historian, designed the tapperij. William Shannon Miller, a German-American builder, whose father ran a steakhouse in lower Manhattan, was hired to realize Castle’s romanticized colonial scheme. Grolier members kept adding antiques and oddities to the tapperij.
First unveiled in the fall of 1895 at the Club’s 29 East 32nd St. home, the Grolier Club Tapperij has been restored at the Club’s current headquarters on 47 East 60th St.
Our members got to enjoy a light reception at this prized period room and had a chance to catch up and enjoy each other’s company in the spirit of the wooden sign hanging at the tapperij’s stove:
“Lust en Rust, Vriendschap en Gezelschap, Vreugde bij Vrede en Buiten Zorg” | “Pleasure and Rest, Friendship and Companionship, Joy in Peace and without Worry”.
