Guards Club

77–78 Pall Mall is a grade II listed building in Pall Mall, London. It is currently used as a business centre.

The Oxford and Cambridge Club is a traditional London club. Membership is largely restricted to those who are members of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, including men and women who have a degree from or who are current undergraduates of either university. The Club is the result of a number of amalgamations of university clubs, most recently that of 1972 between the United University Club, founded in 1821, and the Oxford and Cambridge University Club, founded in 1830. From 1972 until 2001 the Club was known as the United Oxford and Cambridge University Club. Women have been admitted as full members since 1997. The Club is based at 71–77 Pall Mall, in a purpose-built, Grade II* listed club house designed by Sir Robert Smirke.

The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in London, England, was the first stage of a three-part project initiated in November 1786 by engraver and publisher John Boydell in an effort to foster a school of British history painting. In addition to the establishment of the gallery, Boydell planned to produce an illustrated edition of William Shakespeare's plays and a folio of prints based upon a series of paintings by different contemporary painters. During the 1790s the London gallery that showed the original paintings emerged as the project's most popular element. The works of William Shakespeare enjoyed a renewed popularity in 18th-century Britain. Several new editions of his works were published, his plays were revived in the theatre and numerous works of art were created illustrating the plays and specific productions of them. Capitalising on this interest, Boydell decided to publish a grand illustrated edition of Shakespeare's plays that would showcase the talents of British painters and engravers. He chose the noted scholar and Shakespeare editor George Steevens to oversee the edition, which was released between 1791 and 1803. The press reported weekly on the building of Boydell's gallery, designed by George Dance the Younger, on a site in Pall Mall. Boydell commissioned works from famous painters of the day, such as Joshua Reynolds, and the folio of engravings proved the enterprise's most lasting legacy. However, the long delay in publishing the prints and the illustrated edition prompted criticism. Because they were hurried, and many illustrations had to be done by lesser artists, the final products of Boydell's venture were judged to be disappointing. The project caused the Boydell firm to become insolvent, and they were forced to sell the gallery at a lottery.

Cristea Roberts Gallery, formerly Alan Cristea Gallery, is a commercial gallery in central London that was founded by Alan Cristea in 1995. David Cleaton-Roberts, Helen Waters and Kathleen Dempsey are also senior directors. Cristea Roberts Gallery has a particular focus on original prints and works on paper. It is located at 43 Pall Mall, London.

79 Pall Mall is a grade II listed building in Pall Mall, London. It was designed by David Brandon for the Eagle Insurance Company in 1866–68. There formerly stood on the site a brick townhouse occupied by Nell Gwynne after her retirement from the stage and a blue plaque notes the fact.

The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it was also known as the Pall Mall Picture Galleries or the British Gallery. Unlike the Royal Academy it admitted only connoisseurs, dominated by the nobility, rather than practising artists to its membership, which along with its conservative taste led to tensions with the British artists it was intended to encourage and support. In its gallery in Pall Mall the Institution held the world's first regular temporary exhibitions of Old Master paintings, which alternated with sale exhibitions of the work of living artists; both quickly established themselves as popular parts of the London social and artistic calendar. From 1807 prizes were given to artists and surplus funds were used to buy paintings for the nation. Although it continued to attract members and visitors, in 1867, when the lease on its quarters expired, instead of renewing the society wrapped up its affairs.

Schomberg House at 80–82 Pall Mall is a prominent house on the south side of Pall Mall in central London which has a colourful history. Only the street facade survives today. It was built for The 3rd Duke of Schomberg, a Huguenot general in the service of the British Crown. It was adapted from Portland House, which in turn had been created by the Countess of Portland by converting two houses into a single residence. Work began in 1694, the year after the duke inherited his title. The street facade of Schomberg House is striking and rather unusual for a London mansion. It is of red brick, with four main storeys above the basement. The facade's street-level entrance porticoes and decorative work is made of Lithodipyra (Coade stone) manufactured by Eleanor Coade. It is nine windows wide, with the central three bays projecting slightly and topped by a pediment, and the two end bays projecting boldly so that they form projections somewhat like small towers. The windows are narrow and six bold bands of quoins frame the three projections.Meinhardt Schomberg's dukedom became extinct on his death in 1719 and the house was subsequently let. In 1769 it was divided into three (80 Pall Mall to the west, 81 in the centre and 82 to the east) by the artist John Astley. Astley lived at no. 81 himself, and constructed a studio on the roof. In 1781 Astley was succeeded by a Scottish quack doctor called James Graham, who turned the establishment into a "Temple of Health and Hymen". The "Temple" featured a huge "celestial bed" fitted with early electrical devices.The Temple also served as a high-class brothel and gambling den, and was eventually raided by the police and closed down. Meanwhile, Thomas Gainsborough, who was at the height of his career as one of the two most fashionable portrait painters in England, lived next door at no. 80 from 1774 until his death in 1788. The artists Richard Cosway and Maria Cosway also lived at no. 81 for a time with their servant Ottobah Cugoano. During this period number 82 was a fashionable textile store.In the first half of the 19th century Schomberg House was neither aristocratic nor artistic. The central house was a bookshop from 1804 to 1850, and other tenants of the three houses included a picture dealer, an auctioneer and a haberdasher. In 1850 no. 80 was demolished and replaced as part of an abortive redevelopment of the whole site. Then in 1859 nos. 80–82 were all acquired by the government for use by the War Office, which also occupied several other mansions in Pall Mall.In 1956 the building was largely demolished to make way for offices. However, not only were the surviving facades of nos. 81 and 82 retained, but that of no. 80 was rebuilt in its original form.The name Schomberg House has also been used for another property Pall Mall no. 78 (and 77) that used to be the residence of Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and later her two daughters. No. 77 is now part of the Oxford and Cambridge Club (71 Pall Mall).Schomberg House is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England.

The Beaconsfield Club was a London gentlemen's club, now dissolved, which was established in 1880 and was disbanded circa 1887-8. For most of its existence, between 1880 and 1887, it occupied 66-68 Pall Mall, London. The Club was formally linked to the Conservative party, with members having to pledge allegiance to join. It was named in honour of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. It purchased its clubhouse from a Captain John Elliott, who had built it for the short-lived Junior Naval and Military Club, but went bankrupt as a direct result of constructing the building.However, the Beaconsfield Club was not as successful as had been hoped, and was forced to leave the premises by 1887, closing within a year. The building in turn was then passed on to the equally short-lived Unionist Club, before being demolished in 1930.Correspondence relating to the Beaconsfield Club is held by the University of Glasgow.

Full Fact is a British charity, based in London, which checks and corrects facts reported in the news as well as claims which circulate on social media.

The Army and Navy Club in London is a private members club founded in 1837, also known informally as The Rag.

The Portland Club is a London card-playing game club and the recognised early authority on the games of whist and bridge. It is reputedly the oldest card club in the world. Founded in October 1814 as the Stratford Club, 1, Stratford Place.Following the bankruptcy of its bank, Marsh, Sibbald, and Co., in October 1824, the club had to change its partnership and was renamed the Portland Club in January 1825. Two newspapers reported the event: The Star of 5 November 1824 advertised: “In consequence of the failure of the Berners-street Banking-house, which possessed its funds, the Stratford Club, in Oxford-street, is about to be dissolved.” And, on 7 January 1825, The Morning Herald wrote: “It is the rump of the Old Stratford Club, we now hear, which assumes the imposing title of the Portland; and not, as we had been led to suppose, an entirely new Society.” The Portland Club remained in its Stratford Place/Oxford Street premises until 1890. It then moved to 9, St James's Square, in a house that the club had bought there. However, in 1943 the Royal Institute of International Affairs bought the house from the Portland Club, which moved to Charles Street, an address which it left in 1969 for 42, Half Moon Street. From 1999 to 2014, the Portland Club was housed in the Savile Club, 69 Brook Street, then moved to its present premises. The Club now meets in the Army and Navy Club at 36-39 Pall Mall, London SW1.

The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A succession of managements over the next forty years also failed to make it a commercial success, and the St James's acquired a reputation as an unlucky theatre. It was not until 1879–1888, under the management of the actors John Hare and Madge and W. H. Kendal that the theatre began to prosper. The Hare-Kendal management was succeeded, after brief and disastrous attempts by other lessees, by that of the actor-manager George Alexander, who was in charge from 1891 until his death in 1918. Under Alexander the house gained a reputation for programming that was adventurous without going too far for the tastes of London society. Among the plays he presented were Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), and A. W. Pinero's The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1893). After Alexander's death the theatre came under the control of a succession of managements. Among the long-running productions were The Last of Mrs Cheyney (1925), Interference (1927), The Late Christopher Bean (1933) and Ladies in Retirement (1939). In January 1950 Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh took over the management of the theatre. Their successes included Venus Observed (1950) and for the 1951 Festival of Britain season Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra. In 1954 Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables began a run of 726 performances, the longest in the history of the St James's. During the run it emerged that a property developer had acquired the freehold of the theatre and obtained the requisite legal authority to knock it down and replace it with an office block. Despite widespread protests the theatre closed in July 1957 and was demolished in December of that year.