place

Alexandra Club

1888 establishments in England1939 disestablishments in EnglandBuildings and structures in MayfairClubs and societies in LondonEdwardian era
Women's organisations based in the United KingdomWomen in London
Claridge's Hotel, Brook's Mews, Alexandra Club 1910 map
Claridge's Hotel, Brook's Mews, Alexandra Club 1910 map

The Alexandra Club was a private members club for women in Edwardian London. It was based at 12 Grosvenor Street, at the east end of the street on the north side, in London's Mayfair district. The club was founded in 1884, and closed in 1939. The club had 600 members by 1888.Membership of the club was only available to women eligible to attend the Queen's Drawing Rooms. Amy Levy in her 1888 novel, The Romance of a Shop considered the merits of the Alexandra Club against other clubs for women and concluded that the phrase "who has been or who would probably be precluded from Her Majesty's Drawing Rooms" to be "full of the sound and fury of exclusiveness and signifying not so much after all". Smoking was forbidden at the club, and members were not permitted to entertain men. Accommodation was available.The entrance fee was 5 guineas, with the annual subscription fee 4 guineas for members from the country, and 5 guineas for those in town. The popularity of the club led to disputes between members over the best tables those in which according to the historian Anne de Courcy, the "lunchers could be viewed in all their glory from the street". The Prince of Wales, visiting his wife, Princess Alexandra, was once denied entrance by the footman of the club. The prince's satisfaction over this caused him amusement and led him to say that the club was entitled to bear his wife's name as a result.

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

Alexandra Club
Grosvenor Street, City of Westminster Mayfair

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Website Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Alexandra ClubContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.512238888889 ° E -0.14601944444444 °
placeShow on map

Address

Gatehouse Bank

Grosvenor Street 14
W1K 3JZ City of Westminster, Mayfair
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

Website
gatehousebank.com

linkVisit website

Claridge's Hotel, Brook's Mews, Alexandra Club 1910 map
Claridge's Hotel, Brook's Mews, Alexandra Club 1910 map
Share experience

Nearby Places

Bourdon House
Bourdon House

Bourdon House is a Grade II* listed building in Mayfair, London, at the junction of Davies Street and Bourdon Street. The house is believed to be named after Captain William Bourdon, described as the Justice of the Peace for Middlesex, though this name does not appear in any contemporary military records. It was surveyed by Thomas Barlow, and constructed between 1723 and 1725. The house was extended northwards around 1737. There were originally two stories and an attic, with a further storey added around 1760. Much of the house's interior dates from this period.Bourdon lived in the house until 1727, after which it was occupied by Bacon Morris, Governor of the Landguard Fort, Suffolk. The politician and officer Timothy Caswall lived in Bourdon House from 1764 to 1767, then from 1772 until his death in 1802. Subsequently, his daughter lived there until her death in 1830.The house was renovated in the 1860s and 1870s, including the addition of a fourth storey. A wing to the east of the premises was constructed in the early 20th century. The last private residents were Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, who lived there from 1917 until his death in 1953, and his fourth wife, Anne Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster who moved out in 1957. The Duke held a particular affinity for the house, which he preferred as a residence over Grosvenor House. Following the Duchess' departure, it became used for commercial purposes, initially as an antique shop.The property was listed in 1958. As of 2023, the flagship branch of the luxury clothing and accessories retailer Dunhill is based here.

Aeolian Hall (London)
Aeolian Hall (London)

Aeolian Hall, at 135–137 New Bond Street, London, began life as the Grosvenor Gallery, being built by Coutts Lindsay in 1876, an accomplished amateur artist with a predeliction for the aesthetic movement, for which he was held up to some ridicule. In 1883, he decided to light his gallery with electricity. An outhouse became a substation, and equipment was installed in the basement, which upset some of the neighbours, and caused others to buy electricity from him. Thus began the system of electrical distribution in use today, but the threat of fire ended these activities, and by 1890, Lindsay was forced to sell out to the Grosvenor Club. By 1903 the whole building was taken over by the Orchestrelle Company of New York (the Aeolian Company). As manufacturers of musical instruments, and especially the mechanical piano-player known as the pianola, they converted the space into offices, a showroom, and a concert hall. Aeolian Hall was a popular venue for the Russian recitalist Vladimir Rosing. The hall was even turned into an intimate opera house for one set of performances. In June 1921 Rosing presented, with director Theodore Komisarjevsky and conductor Adrian Boult, a season of Opera Intime, performing The Queen of Spades, The Barber of Seville, and Pagliacci. On 12 June 1923 the first performance of Facade, music by William Walton, poems by Edith Sitwell, took place.After the destruction of their St George's Hall studios in March 1943, the BBC took it over for the recording and broadcast of concerts and recitals. The premises are currently converted to office use but remain otherwise intact.