and
Pall Mall in 1799
Site The club's first home was at 18,
St James's Square, at the north corner with King Street. This house was vacated by the
Oxford and Cambridge Club when it moved into its new club house in Pall Mall. A lease was taken and the club opened its doors early in 1838. The club committee initially chose a design by the sporting artist
George Tattersall, of
St James's Street, who planned a two-storey classical building with
Corinthian columns and a crowning balustrade ending with martial trophies and a
Doric entrance portico of three bays. As well as various statues in niches, over the portico he drew a pedestal with bas-reliefs, surmounted by lions and a group symbolising
Britannia and
Neptune. This choice was confirmed by a ballot of the club members in April 1847. The club held an extraordinary general meeting on 11 May 1847 and decided to buy another house in Pall Mall to make its site larger, and also to hold another competition. and Alfred Smith was chosen, an essay in the Venetian Renaissance style of the early sixteenth century, imitating
Venice's
Palazzo Corner della Ca' Grande. The foundation stone was laid on 6 May 1848 by the chairman of the committee, Lt-Col. Daniell. - In 1857, a stained-glass window was installed in the inner hall to commemorate members killed in the
Crimean War, with tablets bearing the badge of the club and details of the battles of the war. The names of the fallen were inscribed in gold letters on marble architraves. Demand for bedrooms increased, and in 1919 the club bought numbers 46, 46a and 47, Pall Mall, subject to existing short leases, later adding to them 7, Rose and Crown Yard (just north of 47, Pall Mall) in 1924. A new building was designed by
C. W. Ferrier and work on it began late in 1924. The old smoking-room was demolished and a new one built, a new kitchen constructed, and the exterior stone of the old club house was renovated. The new house, which connected with the back of the club house at the end of the new smoking-room, provided a squash court, a ladies' drawing-room and dining-room, and shop premises, as well as bedrooms. The club house was closed to members for a year, between August 1925 and July 1926, and the cost of the whole scheme was £167,471. Work was finished in March 1927. The historic club house was replaced by the present mid-twentieth century building, opened 1963, described on the club's web site as "a modern purpose built building extending to almost , on ten floors which includes its own underground garage". ==Presidents==