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
Taking into account the vast growth of the metropolis, we are not
surprised at so luxurious a means of healthful enjoyment as a racquet
court presents being added to the establishments or institutions of
this very clubbable age. Hitherto Clubs had been mostly appropriated
to the purposes of refection; but why should not the social refinement
be extended to the enjoyment of so health-giving sport and manly a
pastime as racquet? The experiment was made, and with perfect success,
immediately upon the confines of one of the most recent settlements of
fashion--Belgravia. It is private property, and bears the name of
"Prince's Club Racquet Courts."
The Club, established in 1854, is built upon the Pavilion estate, in
the rear of the north side of Sloane-street, the principal entrance
being from Hans-place. The grounds are of considerable extent, and
were originally laid out by Capability Brown. They were almost
environed with lofty timber-trees; and the genius of landscape
gardening, fostered by wealth, rendered this glade in the Brompton
groves of old a sort of rural elysium.
The Pavilion estate was once the property of Holland, the well-known
architect, who planned Sloane-street and Hans-place, as a building
speculation; and, in the grounds nearly between them, built himself
what was then considered a handsome villa, the front of which was
originally designed by Holland as a model for the Prince of Wales's
Pavilion at Brighton; hence the name, the Pavilion estate. In the
grounds, among the remains of Brown's ornamental work, was an
icehouse, amidst the imitative ruins of a priory. Here, also, were the
Ionic columns (isolated) which were formerly in the screen of Carlton
House.
The Club buildings comprise seven closed courts; a tennis court;
gallery and refreshment rooms; baths, and a Turkish bath.
Prince's Club is a subscription establishment; and its government is
vested in a committee. Gentlemen desirous of becoming members of the
Club must be proposed and seconded by two of its members. Two of the
rules enact--that members have the privilege of introducing two
friends, but that such visitors, if they play, be charged double the
rate charged to members; and that no hazard, dice, or game of chance
be allowed in this Club. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales
and the Duke of Cambridge are members.
AN ANGLING CLUB.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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