The Reform Club was founded in the ferment of ideas, ideals and political activity which, in part, found expression in the Great Reform Act of 1832. Having succeeded, after a great parliamentary battle, in securing the passing of the Reform Bill, Radicals and Whigs needed a centre for their political activities.
The Club first opened its doors to members in a house at 104 Pall Mall, on 24 May 1836. Planning for a new building began swiftly, and, after an architectural competition Charles Barry was selected to create a new clubhouse. Sir Charles's design was inspired by the Italian Renaissance architecture that he was exposed to as a young student in Rome.
"Phileas Fogg left his house in Saville Row [sic] at half past eleven and, when he had put down his right foot five hundred and seventy times before his left foot, and his left foot five hundred and seventy times before his right foot, he arrived at the Reform Club, a huge edifice, standing in Pall Mall, that cost quite a hundred and twenty pounds to build." Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days, 1872. The Club will forever be associated with Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days, as the place where the idea of this incredible journey was conceived and the famous bet made.
The front facade of the Clubhouse borrows from the Palazzo Farnese, a building studied closely by Barry which was completed in 1589 by Michelangelo. The Reform's clubhouse was finished in 1841 and was immediately hailed as a masterpiece of classical architecture.
Copyright © 2024 Whens Next Limited. All Rights Reserved.