Town and gown The Oxford and Cambridge Club, Pall Mall, London Overwhelmed by unsympathetic changes and redecoration, William Palin reports on how this club and its interiors have been returned to modern splendour Photographs by June Buck Fig 1 above: The Library, fitted out with bookcases of Russian birch, houses over 25,000 volumes. Fig 2 facing page: The grand staircase hall, following restoration. The staircase itself has been painstakingly stripped of a post-war coating of white paint f the four great gentleman’s clubs Evoking college life occupying the south side of Pall Mall, the Oxford and Cambridge There was very little evidence for the remains something of an outsider. historic decorative scheme of the hall, so OThis is partly on account of its position— a new one has been created. Taking his a little distant from that notable trio of the cue from antiquity, plus other Greek Revi- Athenaeum, the Travellers’ and the Reform val examples (Schinkel being a favourite), —and partly a consequence of its outward Paul Vonberg created a design of delicate appearance, which Pevsner calls ‘strangely fretwork patterns, primarily in reds, blue- incoherent’. However, several years into green and gold. In a moment of inspiration, a programme of careful repair and redecora- he arranged it to present a narrative of tion, this grand building is at last emerging college life—with the rosettes (fountains from the shadows as one of London’s richest of knowledge) at the centre, surrounded essays in Greek Revival architecture. by ‘courts and quads’, with the students The 1820s and 1930s were boom years for radiating as stars as they pass through the London club. At the epicentre of clubland the university. The ceiling (left) proved so was Pall Mall (named, incidentally, after popular that it prompted the architect a french variant of croquet, Paille Maille, and decorator to form a new business played here in the 17th century), and five great venture, Dolby von Berg, specialising John Goodall clubs were erected on its south side in the in Classically inspired painted ceilings. 58 Country Life January 21, 2009 www.countrylife.co.uk space of only 11 years from 1827. The capital The façade reliefs of the Empire was transforming itself archi- tecturally and, with nearby Regent Street reaching completion at this time, the West End would have been consumed by dust and noise as houses, banks, monuments and institutions rose and vied for superiority. The Oxford and Cambridge University Club (twice since amalgamated—with the New University Club in 1938 and the United Univer- sity Club in 1972—and eventually to become simply the Oxford and Cambridge Club) was founded in 1830 at a meeting chaired by Lord For these seven reliefs, Smirke used Palmerston. Gladstone himself was a member designs from his father, the artist Robert of a building committee that appointed Robert Smirke RA. The ‘exalted labours of the Smirke as architect and oversaw construction. mind’ were executed by W. G. Nicholl Smirke was assisted by his son, Sydney, who and depict scenes such as Homer continued as club architect after his father’s declaiming his epic and Newton explain- death, and the club was complete by 1838. ing his system. Before redecoration, the stucco was a deadening grey. Now, dignity has been restored, although ‘Inside, the quirkiness the club, understandably, was not able of the elevation evaporates quite to stretch to graining the window frames (a appropriate mahogany-red Fig 4: One of the most pleasing and dramatic transformations has been the repainting to give way to a series colour was selected as a compromise). of the façade of the Oxford and Cambridge Club in the original stone colour, and the of monumental spaces cleaning of the ‘exalted labours of the mind’ terracotta panels above the first-floor windows of great power and beauty’ of the job was the stripping of the layers of fashioned in Russian birch. Collectively, outbuilding behind Marlborough House. On white gloss paint away from the Portland-stone these rooms house some 25,000 volumes. closer inspection, however, it reveals itself to staircase and baluster. This was achieved The main clubhouse is linked on the east be an illusion—a meticulously painted mural, Incremental changes occurred through- using a series of poultices and, although the side to 77, Pall Mall. This building, dating complete with an open sash window, a cur- out the 19th century until the arrival of Sir job took many hundreds of man-hours, the from 1860 and designed by T. H. Wyatt, was tain flapping in the wind, and a cat looking Reginald Blomfield in 1907 heralded more staircase, restored to its naked state, now looks acquired by the club in 1952. It is the former out, hungrily, at a passing dove. A spider hangs dramatic alterations. These included the magnificent. Elsewhere, the decorators used home of Princess Marie Louise, a grand- from the drainpipe bearing the club crest. upgrading of a number of interiors, and the skilful paint effects to imitate stone (as on daughter of Queen Victoria, and initially The recent restoration programme under- addition of the prominent dormer storey, which the running frieze above the marble panels) served as a separate members’ area for women. taken by the Oxford and Cambridge Club had a major effect on the proportions of the and wood, with graining on the doors and The large rear room on the ground floor, and its architect Paul Vonberg has already front elevation. One of the challenges of the architraves on the first and second floor. named after the building’s celebrated former achieved brilliant results. The redecorated restoration programme has been to untangle On the ground floor can be found the Coffee occupant, is now used for banquets. Here, Mr façade places the building once more on Smirke’s work from that of Blomfield. Room (the largest room in the building) and Vonberg settled for an Empire-style redecor- a happy footing with its illustrious neigh- The richness of surface pattern and detail Fig 3: The Smoking Room is the Club’s finest interior. The rich, coffered ceiling with the newly refurbished Morning Room (or ation scheme with deep red panels in gilded bours, but it is Smirke’s cool, Grecian inte- on the main front (Fig 4) is almost confusing. its delicate frieze was returned to Robert Smirke’s original decorative scheme in 2001 Members Bar). The Smoking Room (Fig 3) frames and a ceiling picked out in warm greys, riors, beautifully furnished and dressed again Here, Smirke chose to set aside his trademark on the first floor, entered opposite the head white and gold. The rear window looks out on in appropriate Classical hues of green, yellow, pure Greek style in favour of something more with the doors to the space beyond long institutional feel—its splendour obscured by of the stairs, was redecorated in 2001. This what appears to be a view of a low Georgian red and gold, that are a revelation. eclectic in its Classical references. The large removed, that sense of surprise is dulled. a dull symphony of blue, white and cream. is arguably the club’s finest interior (Blom- Corinthian portico sits heavily in the central However, the steep ascent to the stair hall Paul Vonberg, who oversaw the restoration in field seems to have left it alone), and the rich, bay, which, being wider than the others, inter- is still wonderfully dramatic, producing that 2005, was faced with the unenviable task of coffered ceiling with delicate frieze has been Dedicated clubbers rupts the building’s horizontal rhythm, and effect, so marked in grand Victorian public understanding the later alterations to the hall returned to Smirke’s original scheme. This When it came to club design, Sir Charles Barry (1795–1860) was the banded stucco on the first floor looks and institutional buildings, of making the and restoring it to some sense of harmony and room shows the architect at his best, with all the undoubted star. Barry (right) made his name with the distinctly odd in relation to the Palladian-style onlooker feel Lilliputian. These buildings order. The hall was one of the spaces com- the elements effortlessly resolved and perfect Travellers Club (1830–32), which pioneered the Italian Renais- rustication below. Yet the details are very were, of course, designed by artists who had pletely overhauled by Blomfield after 1907, proportions. An excellent collection of club sance palazzo model. This he followed with The Reform Club finely conceived—the terracotta panels are seen Classical and Renaissance architecture who introduced his trademark motif, the furniture, such as a number of low mahogany (1838–41), his masterpiece, brilliantly planned around a double- beautifully executed and other elements, at first hand. Importantly, therefore, inspira- tripartite (or Venetian) window, over the bookcases inlaid with walnut, sits grandly on height internal courtyard or cortile. Another senior architectural figure well versed in this relatively such as the iron Palestrina railings, a delight. tion came from physical experience as well landing, and added some flashy touches such a superb Axminster carpet. The room con- new building type was Sir Robert Smirke (1780–1867). Smirke Once inside, any quirkiness evaporates to as a firm grounding in the rules of Classical as the panels of marble lining the staircase. tains one amusing curiosity—a full-height (below), whose large and successful practice was built up on the give way to a series of monumental spaces architecture. Smirke was no exception. As Mr Vonberg made the conscious decision to cupboard fashioned into an elegant humidor. back of a reputation for reliability rather than architectural genius, of great power and beauty.