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| Founded | 1935 |
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| Purpose | Social club |
| Location | |
| Website | www.lansdowneclub.com |
The Lansdowne Club is a private members' club in London, England occupying a large building, notable in its own right. It was established in 1935 and occupies most of 9 Fitzmaurice Place, a street connecting Berkeley Square to Curzon Street in Mayfair.
The club formed later than many London clubs, and it permitted women from its inception. It has always had a relatively young membership, with an active social scene. The building's main Adam and otherwise 1930s Art Deco interiors, with some authentic frontages, mean it has been Grade II* listed since its first assessment in 1970. This is the mid-category of listed building, a statutory scheme of protection which has a pyramidal hierarchy.
In 1930, Westminster City Council decided to improve access to Berkeley Square by creating an extra road into the square. This was accomplished by demolishing half of the main range of Lansdowne House, which stood since the 1760s. What remained was given a new frontage and a newly renovated interior, and became the Lansdowne Club. The 'First Drawing Room' was thus taken to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, [1] and the 'Dining Room' exists in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. [2]
The venue was founded as a 'social, residential and athletic Club for members of social standing' and their families, and unlike many rivals, it had no vocational, artistic, or political 'theme'. Its facilities include a ballroom, a terrace, a fencing Salle and a basement gym with Art Deco swimming pool. Internally architecture is extremely unusual; some is modern for its type, being significantly Art Deco, as opposed to Georgian/Victorian/Edwardian styles. The 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. [3] Resident fencing coach, Prof. Wojciechowski, is official coach of the British Olympic squad.
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Fencing was established as part of the Lansdowne Club in November 1935 by a group of fencers who moved there from the Royal Automobile Club [4] and the Club boasts a historic salle d'armes that was featured in Darling (1965 film). Over the years the fencing masters have included:
Mayfair is an area in London, England and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts in the world.
Westminster School is a public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as documented by the Croyland Chronicle and a charter of King Offa. Continuous existence is clear from the early 14th century. Westminster was one of nine schools examined by the 1861 Clarendon Commission and reformed by the Public Schools Act 1868. The school motto, Dat Deus Incrementum, quotes 1 Corinthians 3:6: "I planted the seed... but God made it grow."
Smith Square is a square in Westminster, London, 250 metres south-southwest of the Palace of Westminster. Most of its garden interior is filled by St John's, Smith Square, a Baroque surplus church, the inside of which has been converted to a concert hall. Most adjoining buildings are offices, with the focus on organisations lobbying or serving the government. In the mid-20th century, the square hosted the headquarters of the two largest parties of British politics, and it is now hosts much of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Local Government Association. It has a pedestrian or mixed approach to the four sides and another approach to the north.
Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, and originally extended further south. The garden's very large London Plane trees are among the oldest in central London, planted in 1789.
Lansdowne House now 9 Fitzmaurice Place is the remaining part of an aristocratic English town house building to the south of Berkeley Square in central London, England. The initial name was for two decades Shelburne House, then its title matched its owning family's elevation to a higher peerage in 1784. In the mid to late 19th century, it was frequently let, as a whole, to families of very high wealth or income, such as Lord Rosebery and Hannah de Rothschild of Mentmore Towers from 1878 to 1890. Some of its 18th-century interiors, among the best in London, were taken elsewhere. It was at different times leased by three 19th century British prime ministers, and William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor of Cliveden House, widely believed to be the richest man in America at the time of his tenancy (1891–1893) and also by Harry Gordon Selfridge in the 1920s. Landsdowne's heirs sold the property in 1929, two years after the death of the 5th Marquess, a prominent government frontbencher.
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design, it was used in railroad locomotives, telephones, toasters, buses, appliances, and other devices to give the impression of sleekness and modernity.
Norfolk House was the London residence of the Howard family headed by the Dukes of Norfolk, and as such more than one building has been given this name. The first was opposite Lambeth Palace, set in acres of garden and orchards on a site occupying what is now the Novotel London Waterloo on Lambeth Road.
Devonshire House in Piccadilly, was the London townhouse of the Dukes of Devonshire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Following a fire in 1733 it was rebuilt by William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, in the Palladian style, to designs by William Kent. Completed circa 1740, it stood empty after the First World War and was demolished in 1924.
Gideon Oliphant-Murray, 2nd Viscount Elibank was a Scottish colonial administrator, politician and nobleman.
Nickolas Muray was a Hungarian-born American photographer and Olympic saber fencer.
Fencing Ireland – formerly the Irish Fencing Federation – is the governing body for the sport of fencing in Ireland. It was formally established in 1933, although the sport of fencing has been practised in Ireland since the beginning of the 1900s. The Federation is recognised by Sport Ireland and the Olympic Council of Ireland, and it is also affiliated to the Federation Internationale d'Escrime and European Fencing Confederation.
Edgar Isaac Seligman was an accomplished American-born British painter, who exhibited at the Fine Art Society and Royal Academy and was a highly competitive épée, foil, and sabre fencer.
Eloise Smith is a British fencer. She competed in the women's individual foil event at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She was Commonwealth fencing champion in Individual Women's Foil in 1998 and 2002. From 1997 to 2004, she represented Great Britain at every World Fencing Championships and was British Individual Women's Foil No. 1. She was coached by Ziemowit Wojciechowski at Salle Paul.
In British usage, the term townhouse originally referred to the opulent town or city residence of a member of the nobility or gentry, as opposed to their country seat, generally known as a country house or, colloquially, for the larger ones, stately home. The grandest of the London townhouses were stand-alone buildings, but many were terraced buildings.
Bath House in Piccadilly was the London residence of the Barons Ashburton in the 19th century. Formerly the site of the Pulteney Hotel, the property was acquired by Mr. Alexander Baring from William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath in 1821 and rebuilt and renamed after the Earl.
Tattersalls Club is a heritage-listed club house at 206 Edward Street, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Hall and Prentice and built from 1925 to 1949. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
Abraham Robarts was an English banker and politician. He was a factor in the West Indies trade, and a director of the East India Company.
Nell Gwynn House is a ten-storey residential building in Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, designed in the Art Deco style by G. Kay Green. Completed in 1937, it stands next to the same architect's Sloane Avenue Mansions, built a few years earlier.
Mulberry House, Number 36, Smith Square, is located in the City of Westminster, London. It was built in 1911 as a private house for Reginald McKenna, a politician and later Chairman of the Midland Bank. The architect was Edwin Lutyens. In 1930 the house was bought by Henry Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett. In conjunction with his wife, Gwen, Melchett employed the architect Darcy Braddell to undertake a major internal remodeling and redecoration. Braddell engaged a number of painters and sculptors, including Charles Sargeant Jagger to create what has been described as "one of the most important Art Deco interiors in London." After a period of institutional use in the post-war period, the house was reconverted to a private residence in the early 21st century.
Media related to Lansdowne Club at Wikimedia Commons51°30′30″N0°08′42″W / 51.5083°N 0.1451°W
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