Manufacturer: Syracuse China
User: Level Club
Pattern name: #80801
Date of bouillon cup: October 1927

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Notes: The Level Club was located at 253 W. 73rd St. in New York City. The cornerstone was laid on Oct. 17, 1925. The 16-story structure was built at a cost of around $2 million, as a men's club for a group of 5,000 Masonic Freemasons. It opened in 1927 with 225 sleeping rooms, a 4,000-seat auditorium, ballroom and a dining room. The Great Depression forced the Level Club into foreclosure in 1930. In 1936, the building was converted into the Riverside Plaza Hotel. In 1984, it was converted into 144 condo units and renamed Level Club.

Syracuse China created this multicolor decal border expressly for the Level Club. It is shown in a Syracuse salesmen's sample book as pattern #80801 – Level Club (see below). The 1927 production run was probably the only time this pattern was produced for the club.

The central monogram in red, white, black and brown is a circle with a border of brown circles. Inside are the intertwined letters C and L and crossing them horizontally is what looks at first like a brown log. In reality, it is a carpenter's level.

Information sources:
Logo shown on front cover of "The Level Club: A New York City Story of the Twenties: Splendor, Decadence and Resurgence of a Monument to Human Ambition," by Bruno Bertuccioli and Andrea Bassan, 1991;
Wikipedia – club and building information; and
Untapped Cities – June 5, 2012 article and photos of building.

ID contributed by L Paul
Photo contributed by Babcock