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To find out more about the extensive refurbishment and restoration programme click here or read on to find out about the history of the Club.
1763
Marquess of Bute, the incumbent Prime Minister, commissions Robert Adam to create a great house to rival the town houses of the day
1765
Lord Bute sells the house to Lord Shelburne, later the Marquess of Lansdowne. Lord Shelburne was Foreign Secretary in the Chatham Administration. He attempted to conciliate the American colonists but, disheartened due to lack of support from the Cabinet, he resigned and travelled in Italy where he began the collection of ancient sculpture for which Lansdowne House became famous.
1782
Shelburne, now Prime Minister, concedes independence to the United States in the Treaty of Paris, drawn up with Benjamin Franklin in the Round Room. This is the only unaltered original room remaining. Its circular frieze was painted by Cipriani and J F Rigaud in 1776.
During this period the house was the centre of the most cultivated and liberal society of the day. It was frequented by the likes of Garrick, Dr Johnson, Priestley the great chemist and Mirabeau.
1786
George Dance the Younger is commissioned to undertake alterations to the Library, Blue Room, staircase and Entrance Hall
1815-19
The present ballroom was originally designed for Lord Bute as a library, but was remodelled as a sculpture gallery, to a design by George Dance. The work is completed by Robert Smirke. The Long Gallery alongside it, by T H Wyatt, was added in 1830.
1921-1929
House is leased to Gordon Selfridge, the department store magnate. With his tenants, the Hungarian Cabaret Artistes known as ‘The Dolly Sisters’, the house became famous again, but this time for its dancing parties.
1925
The House loses its gardens and carriageway for a development of shops and offices.
1929
The House is sold to the Bruton Club
1930-35
Charles Fox is commissioned to re-design the house for use as a private club, remodelling the house to incorporate social rooms and a sports area, including a swimming pool, squash courts, fencing Salle, café and bar in the basement.
1931-32
The front of Lansdowne House is taken down to make way for a road, Fitzmaurice Place, to connect Berkeley Square with Curzon Street. The façade was removed and replaced (slightly modified) after 40 feet of the house had been demolished. Two of the rooms were shipped intact to America: The ‘First Drawing Room’ is reinstated at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Dining Room was re-erected at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
1935
White Allom, the firm who were responsible for the fitting out of the great Cunard liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, are commissioned to decorate the Club in the ‘Art Moderne’ style.
1st May 1935
The Lansdowne Club opens as a ‘social, residential and athletic Club for members of social standing…’. It was from its inception the only Club in London where ladies had equal standing with men as they still do.
2000
Millennium MasterPlan commences with the aim to renovate and restore the original features of Adam, Smirke and Fox, as well as upgrade the facilities and accommodation to create a Club for the 21stCentury.
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