
The Club was founded in 1898 by Charles de Kay. An art and literary critic who worked for 18 years for the New York Times, de Kay was also an ardent fan of fencing, founding the Fencer’s Club in New York. In March of 1898, de Kay called together a number of civic leaders and men prominent in the art world who supported the idea, elected the first officers and incorporated the Club in 1899. A show of American gold and silver work in October 1899 was the first exhibition held at the National Arts Club.
Within the National Arts Club there have been some smaller societies. The Men's Open Table, founded in 1910, met weekly for more than forty years for dinner followed by a talk. The American Institute of Graphic Arts is one of the organizations said to have developed from associations formed and discussions held at the Men's Open Table.

Samuel Jones Tilden was a leading political figure of the 19th Century. He was elected as a governor of New York in 1874. Tilden's reputation as a reformer led his party to nominate him as their candidate for President. Tilden attacked and broke the "Canal Ring," individuals whom had made millions of dollars illegally from contracts for the repair and extension of the state's lucrative canals. Tilden was defeated by Rutherford B. Hayes in a hotly disputed presidential election in 1876.(...)

Allegories of the four seasons carved from Scottish Carlisle stone dotted the facade along with heads of historical figures: Shakespeare, Goethe, Dante, Milton, and Benjamin Franklin who was, in Tilden's words, "the representative American." Above the entrance to 14 Gramercy, Tilden's library, was a sandstone bust of Michelangelo. (....)
Tilden's health was failing, and he died in 1886. Tilden donated most of his substantial fortune and his books to found the New York Public Library.

Membership peaked at around 1,800 in 1920, declining throughout the Depression and again in the mid-1950s, and remaining at about 600 for the next two decades. The club counts three Presidents–Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Dwight D. Eisenhower–in addition to the numerous painters, sculptors and architects that have formed its ranks. Sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Anna Hyatt Huntington and Paul Manship were the members of the club.

Many private clubs have overnight rooms for their members, but the National Arts Club is the only club than has a revenue-generating apartment complex.

In 2013 Aldon James agreed to pay $950,000 to settle allegations by the offices of New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman that he committed the acts of “self-dealing and breach of fiduciary duty.”
The National Arts Club Dining Room and bar are open only to members and guests of members. All four galleries of The National Arts Club are open to the public and can be visited Monday to Friday between 10 AM and 5 PM . There is no admission fee.
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