Pudding Institute Will Relocate Clubhouse to Tommy Doyle’s Spot

The Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770—comprised of The Hasty Pudding Club, The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and the Harvard Krokodiloes—will relocate its clubhouse from 2 Garden St. to 96 Winthrop St. later this month, according to Hasty Pudding chairman and “Grand Sphinx” Andrew L. Farkas ’82.

According to Farkas, one of the Institute’s main benefactors and the founder of the merchant real estate bank Island Capital Group, the Institute has been searching for a new space for some time in anticipation of their lease on Garden Street expiring at the end of the year.

The Winthrop Street building, known as the Hyde-Taylor house, currently houses the Irish pub Tommy Doyle’s, which is set to close on Dec. 22.

In a statement to be released Thursday morning, the Institute wrote that negotiations with Tommy Doyle’s and the landlord began at the end of the summer.

The relocation process will begin immediately after the Institute acquires the building in late December. Some renovations will be undertaken, and artwork and furniture will be removed from the current location, Farkas told The Crimson.

An inauguration of the clubhouse will take place in January before the Hasty Pudding Institute hosts its annual Woman of the Year celebration on Jan. 30. The Hasty Pudding Theatricals annual production will continue to take place in Farkas Hall, which was renamed in 2011 after a donation by Farkas.

For Farkas, it was important that the new clubhouse meets several requirements. The Institute announced a merger among the three separate organizations in September 2012, a revitalization of previous collaborations under the umbrella organization called the Institute of 1770, and Farkas noted that as multifaceted institution, Hasty Pudding has members with a range of interests and believes the clubhouse should be compatible with the needs of all members, who will have equal access to the clubhouse.

“We wanted a place that was conducive to the cultivation of all of activities in which the Pudding engages,” Farkas said.

The Institute sought a space that would allow for members to socialize, study, and dine. In particular, Farkas wanted a venue with a stage that would allow the organization’s members to practice and perform for the public.

“Our new home had to allow us to do that, while also being able to develop all the skills, resources, and talents that are inherent within the members of the various different Pudding organizations themselves,” Farkas said.

The Pudding Club, which is described in the press release as the oldest collegiate social club in America, has a more than two-century long history at the College. The new clubhouse will be the Pudding’s sixth. The organization has spent a decade at 2 Garden St. after acquiring the space in 2003.

Farkas said that the Institute as a whole prides itself on making philanthropic efforts, by promoting “freedom of expression in all aspects of the performing arts” and encouraging “satire, comedy and the cultivation of young talent,” the press release said.

Farkas said he hopes that the new location will allow the Institute to fulfill this mission. The building at 96 Winthrop St. once housed the original House of Blues before it closed in 2003.

“The Pudding will aim to further the great traditions deeply rooted in its new home and add their own to the centuries-old history of 96 Winthrop Street,” the press release read.

—Staff writer Celeste M. Mendoza can be reached at celestemendoza@college.harvard.edu.