Club Life of London, Vol. 1 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th CenturiesTimbs, John
History
Club Life of London, Vol. 1 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries
Timbs, John
Clubs -- England -- London; Literary landmarks -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
Albert Smith was also of the Garrick, and usually dined here before
commencing his evening entertainment at the Egyptian Hall, in
Piccadilly.
Smith was very clubbable, and with benevolent aims: he was a leader of
the Fielding Club, in Maiden-lane, Covent Garden, which gave several
amateur theatrical representations, towards the establishment of "a
Fund for the immediate relief of emergencies in the Literary or
Theatrical world;" having already devoted a considerable sum to
charitable purposes. This plan of relieving the woes of others through
our own pleasures is a touch of nature which yields twofold
gratification.
THE REFORM CLUB.
This political Club was established by Liberal Members of the two
Houses of Parliament, to aid the carrying of the Reform Bill,
1830-1832. It was temporarily located in Great George-street, and
Gwydyr House, Whitehall, until towards the close of 1837, when designs
for a new Club-house were submitted by the architects, Blore, Basevi,
Cockerell, Sydney Smirke, and Barry. The design of the latter was
preferred, and the site selected in Pall Mall, extending from the spot
formerly occupied by the temporary National Gallery (late the
residence of Sir Walter Stirling), on one side of the temporary Reform
Club-house, over the vacant plot of ground on the other side. The
instructions were to produce a Club-house which should surpass all
others in size and magnificence; one which should combine all the
attractions of other Clubs, such as baths, billiard-rooms,
smoking-rooms, with the ordinary accommodations; besides the
additional novelty of private chambers, or dormitories. The frontage
towards Pall Mall is about 135 feet, or nearly equal to the frontage
of the Athenæum (76 feet) and the Travellers' (74 feet). The style of
the Reform is pure Italian, the architect having taken some points
from the celebrated Farnese Palace at Rome, designed by Michael Angelo
Buonarroti, in 1545, and built by Antonio Sangallo. However, the
resemblance between the two edifices has been greatly over-stated, it
consisting only in both of them being astylar, with columnar-decorated
fenestration. The exterior is greatly admired; though it is objected,
and with reason, that the windows are too small. The Club-house
contains six floors and 134 apartments: the basement and mezzanine
below the street pavement, and the chambers in the roof are not seen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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