London Clubs: Their History & TreasuresNevill, Ralph
History
London Clubs: Their History & Treasures
Nevill, Ralph
Clubs -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
It should be added that a rule enforcing the wearing of evening dress by
members dining in the coffee-room still remains in force; but a smaller
apartment is set aside for those who for any reason do not find it
convenient to change their day clothes.
Arthur’s Club, in St. James’s Street, was the original abode of White’s,
which occupied it from 1698 to 1755, since which date the house has, of
course, undergone a good deal of change. In the eighteenth century,
owing to the association of a Mr. Arthur with the management of White’s,
the latter club was frequently spoken of as Arthur’s; this naturally
originated an idea that the two clubs were at one time connected, but
such in reality was never the case, the presumed parent of Arthur’s
having been a coffee-house of that name.
The records of Arthur’s Club as at present constituted are,
unfortunately, somewhat scanty. It would appear, however, that after the
migration of White’s in 1755 another club was formed at 69 St. James’s
Street, and that it took the name of Arthur’s, which it still retains.
In its present form the club-house was built by Mr. Hopper in 1825,
though probably a certain portion of the original coffee-house, erected
in 1736, was incorporated in the new building. A room on the
ground-floor (at the back of the house) is said to have been the
gaming-room of White’s Club during its tenure of the premises up to
1755; but if this is the case the decorative frieze and ceiling must
have been added later, as in style they belong to the nineteenth
century. During the rebuilding of 1825 everything seems to have been
sacrificed to the staircase, which now occupies the very large hall,
crowned by an elaborately-designed dome. There are, however, some
handsome rooms, notably the library, in which is an eighteenth-century
English sideboard of admirable design. In this and other rooms there is
a good deal of the heavy, solid mahogany furniture so popular about
seventy or eighty years ago. The examples in Arthur’s Club are certainly
the best of their kind, and are well in keeping with the design of the
house. There are very few pictures or engravings here—a print or two of
Arthur’s as it was in old days, a few portraits of members, and an
oil-painting of the late Sir John Astley (known as “the Mate”) are about
all.
Arthur’s possesses a quantity of very fine silver plate, some of which
dates from the eighteenth century.
This club still maintains some of the restrictions as regards smoking
which were so general in the clubs of other days, no smoking being
allowed in the library or morning-room. There are, however, ample
facilities for indulgence in tobacco in other parts of the house—notably
in the hall, where a very pleasant lounge has recently been contrived.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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