Lansdowne Club

The Lansdowne Club
Founded 1935
Home Page www.lansdowneclub.com
Address 9 Fitzmaurice Place
Clubhouse occupied since 1935
Club established for social
Lansdowne House, the home of the Lansdowne family

The Lansdowne Club is a London private club, which was established in 1935. It is located at 9 Fitzmaurice Place, near Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London, England.

The Lansdowne is unusual in three ways — it was established later than many London clubs, it permitted women from its inception, and its partially 1930s Art Deco architecture is quite distinctive.

In 1930 Westminster City Council decided to improve access to Berkeley Square through creating an extra road into the square. This was accomplished by demolishing half of Lansdowne House, which had stood there since the 18th century. The remaining half was given a new frontage, and a newly renovated interior, and was founded as the Lansdowne Club. The 'First Drawing Room' was reinstated in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Dining Room in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

From the outset, it was founded as a 'social, residential and athletic Club for members of social standing' and their families, and unlike many London clubs it had no vocational, artistic, or political 'theme'. The Club's facilities include a ballroom, a terrace, a fencing salle and a basement gym including an Art Deco swimming pool. The club's internal architecture is extremely unusual and relatively modern for a London club, being significantly Art Deco, as opposed to the more usual Georgian/Victorian/Edwardian styles found in other clubs. The splendid Adam Room and other parts of the Club on the ground floor are Georgian though. The building underwent extensive renovation and further modernisation in 2000. It was granted Grade II* Listed Building status in 1970.[1] The club includes a fencing salle, where the resident coach, Professor Wojciechowski, is also the official coach of the British Olympic squad.

Past and current members include Richard Dimbleby,[2] Joachim Ribbentrop,[2] Beryl Cook, John Bly, Loyd Grossman, Baroness Butler-Sloss, Peter Alliss, Paul Smith (fashion designer), Elizabeth Blackadder and Lord Sudeley.

Chairmen of the Club

References

  1. ↑ http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-209730-lansdowne-club-greater-london-authority
  2. 1 2 Perry, Maria, The House in Berkeley Square (2003)

See also

Coordinates: 51°30′30″N 0°08′42″W / 51.5083°N 0.1451°W / 51.5083; -0.1451

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