Allerton House on 38 Street and Lexington Avenue

The Allerton House at 138 East Thirty-eighth Street and 311 Lexington Avenue, now Tatham House, was erected in 1914 and early 1915 for the use of professional and mercantile men in the Midtown's Murray Hill neighborhood. It was successful from the start, according to the Sun (August 21, 1918).

The 12-story building on the southeast corner of Lexington Avenue and East 38 Street, has a frontage of 35 feet on Lexington Avenue and 100 feet on 38th Street. It was originally completed in 1915 to accommodate 250 guests.

According to the New York Times (January 31, 1915), it was built of marble and red brick, with a garden on the roof. In the basement were club, pool and billiard rooms. The first floor contained a large living room, with a pipe organ and pianola attachment, smoking and card rooms. On the second floor is the restaurant.

This hotel was the second Allerton House built in New York City by the Allerton group. The first one was completed in 1913 at 302 West 22nd Street. Later, other Allerton House, the Fraternity Clubs Building was completed on the same street, in 1924.

By August 1918, the Allerton Thirty-eighth Street Company, founded by James Stewart Cushman, sold the hotel to the New York City Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), of which Dr. Fanny Cook Gates is the general secretary. The new owner would supply rooms at a reasonable rates for self-supporting young women. According to the New York Times (September 17, 1918), it would be reopened in September 1918 to accommodate 160 girls. The house was renamed Tatham House, after the former general secretary of the metropolitan board of YWCA, Miss Cora L. Tatham.