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Portland Club (London)

Contract bridge clubsContract bridge in the United KingdomGentlemen's clubs in LondonUnited Kingdom organisation stubs

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.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Portland Club (London) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Portland Club (London)
Pall Mall, City of Westminster Victoria

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N 51.5063 ° E -0.1357 °
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Army and Navy Club (The Rag)

Pall Mall 36-39
SW1Y 5JH City of Westminster, Victoria
England, United Kingdom
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Schomberg House
Schomberg House

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.

Cumberland House
Cumberland House

Cumberland House was a mansion on the south side of Pall Mall in London, England. It was built in the 1760s by Matthew Brettingham for Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany and was originally called York House. The Duke of York died in 1767 aged just twenty eight and the house was taken over by Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, whose name it has retained. Brettingham's house was in a late Palladian style. It was seven bays wide with three main storeys plus basement and attics and was built of brick with stone dressings. The Duke of Cumberland made various alterations. He built a projecting west wing on the site of a neighbouring house that he purchased and added a pair of lodges flanking the forecourt, probably all to designs by Robert Adam. Adam also made many designs for remodelling the interiors, which are now in the collection at the Sir John Soane's Museum, but only a few of them were carried out. The Duke of Cumberland died in 1790, and in 1800, the widowed Duchess surrendered it to the banks who held mortgages on it. The house was sold to the Union Club in 1801 and in 1806 it was purchased by the Board of Ordnance. From 1858 it housed the War Office. An eastern counterpart to the west wing was added in 1809. Cumberland House was used by the government for just over a hundred years. The War Office also acquired several neighbouring houses, including Schomberg House, and knocked them together to form a large office complex. Cumberland House was demolished in stages between 1908 and 1911. The site is now occupied by the Royal Automobile Club.

Guards Club

The Guards Club, established in 1810, was a London Gentlemen's club for officers of the Guards Division, originally defined by the club as being the Coldstream Guards, Grenadier Guards or Scots Guards, traditionally the most socially elite section of the British Army. Officers of the Welsh and Irish Guards were not able to join until the second half of the 20th century. Its clubhouse at 70 Pall Mall was the first to be built on that street, which later became noted for its high concentration of clubs; earlier clubs had been focused on the adjoining St James's Street.Stephen Hoare states that: "Three Guards officers, Captain Rees Howell Gronow, Jack Talbot and that well-known acrobatic dandy Colonel Dan MacKinnon established the Guards Club at the St James's Coffee-House at number 88 St James's Street opposite Lock's the hatter. The link between coffee-houses and the club formation remained as strong as it was a century earlier. The establishment provided exactly the kind of relaxing and informal atmosphere where officers home on leave or waiting to be posted could enjoy decent hospitality. In fact, not long afterwards St James's Coffee-House became the St James's Club in 1840. Meanwhile, the Guards Club acquired premises at 49 St. James's Street, opposite Whites, finally moving to a newly commissioned clubhouse at 70 Pall Mall in 1849".In 1975 it gave up its premises and merged with the Cavalry Club in nearby Piccadilly to form the present-day Cavalry and Guards Club.