LONDON
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: AN EVENING AT
THE LANSDOWNE CLUB, MAYFAIR
BY SAMANTHA READY
© Key & Quill
There’ s a particular frisson that comes from stepping through the doors of somewhere that is genuinely exclusive. Not in that over-hyped, velvet-rope way, but in that almost tiptoeing inside the kind of place where discretion is woven into the architecture itself. The Lansdowne Club, occupying its own corner of Berkeley Square with the quiet confidence of something that’ s been there since 1763, is precisely that sort of establishment.
The building itself is an architectural blueprint of considerable distinction. Designed by Robert Adam for the 3rd Earl of Bute, it was later acquired by William Petty Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, who served as British Prime Minister from 1782 to 1783. The Treaty of Paris( there is an incredible copy of the signature page of the document encased in glass in the main hall), which ended the
American War of Independence, was drafted in what is now the club’ s Round Room Bar- a detail that rather puts one’ s own daily concerns into perspective. The house later passed to Gordon Selfridge, whose legendary 1920’ s parties added a layer of Jazz Age glamour to its already storied past. Be sure to watch out for framed black and white photographs of his life( including his mistresses!) as you descend the main stairwell …
When the building was converted into a members’ club in 1935, it did something rather radical for its time: it admitted men and women with equal social status from the outset; a progressive stance that distinguished it from London’ s traditional patriarchal clubland. Today, it holds a Grade II * listing- the mid-tier of statutory protection that recognises its Robert Adam interiors alongside the Art Deco elements introduced in the 1930s.
Walking through the entrance, you’ re immediately struck by the layering of centuries. Adam’ s neoclassical bones remain- those impossibly high ceilings and the restrained elegance of Georgian proportions( you must visit the library just to stare at the fireplace and upwards in wonder)- but they’ ve been enriched by Art Deco flourishes that speak to the building’ s reinvention nearly a century ago. The scalloped cornices, the decorative fan grilles, the interplay of period detail... All coexist with remarkable harmony.
The club sprawls across multiple floors, each with its own distinct character. There’ s the 25-yard Art Deco swimming pool- a genuine showpiece with columns and vaulted ceilings that make you feel as though you’ re swimming through a particularly glamorous piece of history. London’ s only private club salles d’ armes caters to those who fence, while the
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