Hamilton Club Building

A focal point of Passaic County Community College, the historic Hamilton Club Building is located at 32 Church Street in Paterson, New Jersey. Named for Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury and a founder of Paterson, the building is an architectural gem. 

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The Hamilton Club was first opened in 1897 as an exclusive gentlemen’s club, “a place where members could pursue recreational, social and intellectual activities amid congenial surroundings.” One of the

 founding members of the club was Garret A. Hobart, a Paterson attorney who later became the 24th Vice President of the United States. In 1902, the impressive Neo-Italian Renaissance building was destroyed by the Great Paterson Fire, but the club was rebuilt and reopened to members the following year. 

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With its marble vestibule, grand staircases, solid oak wainscoting, columns, hand carved mantels, and spacious rooms, the Hamilton Club Building is an appropriate setting for the College’s permanent collections of 19th and early 20th century paintings, prints, decorative arts, and sculptures. The Hamilton Club Art

 Collection, 26 art works acquired with the building, and the Studio Collection of Paterson sculptor Gaetano Federici (1880-1964), gifted to the College by The Nicholas Martini Foundation, are on permanent exhibition in the Hamilton Club Building for the benefit of the public. The Hamilton Club Gallery on the 2nd floor features changing exhibits by contemporary artists. Tours for school children, community organizations, and individuals make the art available to an increasingly diverse number of people.     

Photographs by John Reid (1835-1911)

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The Hamilton Club building also houses the Passaic County Cultural and Heritage Council (PCCHC) and the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College.

A brochure with a comprehensive history of the Hamilton Club by Edward A Smyk, Passaic County Historian, is available to visitors. For more information and to schedule a tour, please call (973) 684-5448.

Audio versions of the Hamilton Club Art Collection Catalog, the Federici Collection brochure and the Hamilton Club Building Brochure are available on CD by request. Please contact (973) 684-5448 or email jhaw@pccc.edu  for further information.