Savile Club
Encyclopedia
| Founded | 1868 |
|---|---|
| Home Page | http://www.savileclub.co.uk |
| Address | 69 Brook Street Brook Street Brook Street is one of the principal streets on the Grosvenor Estate in the exclusive central London district of Mayfair. It was developed in the first half of the 18th century and runs from Hanover Square to Grosvenor Square. The continuation from Grosvenor Square to Park Lane is called Upper... , W1Y 2ER |
| Clubhouse occupied since | 1927 |
| Club established for | The Arts The arts The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and... and science Science Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe... s |
The Savile Club was founded in 1868 for the purpose of conversation and good company. Though located somewhat out of the way from the main centre of London's gentlemen's clubs, closer to the residences of Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
than the clubs of Pall Mall
Pall Mall, London
Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, and parallel to The Mall, from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square. The street is a major thoroughfare in the St James's area of London, and a section of the...
and St James's Street, it still contained some prominent names among its members. Possibly because of its location, it retains a more intimate feeling than many clubs, less overtly grand and closer to a converted London townhouse - which is indeed what it is. It was originally formed after a division of opinion within the old Eclectic Club as to whether to accept an offer of rooms by the Medical Club and cease to be just a ‘night club’ (in its nineteenth century sense).
Changing premises
Initially calling itself the New Club, it grew rapidly, outgrowing its first floor rooms overlooking Trafalgar SquareTrafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
at 9 Spring Gardens and moving to the second floor. It then moved to 12 Savile Row
Savile Row
Savile Row is a shopping street in Mayfair, central London, famous for its traditional men's bespoke tailoring. The term "bespoke" is understood to have originated in Savile Row when cloth for a suit was said to "be spoken for" by individual customers...
in 1871, where it changed its name to the Savile Club, before lack of space forced the club to move again in 1882, this time to 107 Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
, a building owned by Lord Rosebery. With its views over Green Park
Green Park
-External links:*...
it was described by the members as the 'ideal clubhouse'. However, after 50 years residence, demolition of the building next door to create the Park Lane Hotel
Park Lane Hotel
The Park Lane Hotel is a 5 Star hotel on Piccadilly, London.The hotel was built in the 1920s in the Grand Art Deco Style by Sir Bracewell Smith. The building is a fine example with a mansard roof and Portland stone facade...
caused the old clubhouse such structural problems that, in 1927, the club moved to its present home at 69 Brook Street
Brook Street
Brook Street is one of the principal streets on the Grosvenor Estate in the exclusive central London district of Mayfair. It was developed in the first half of the 18th century and runs from Hanover Square to Grosvenor Square. The continuation from Grosvenor Square to Park Lane is called Upper...
, part of the Grosvenor Estate
Grosvenor Group
Grosvenor is a privately owned property group with offices in 18 cities. It has four regional investment & development businesses in Britain & Ireland, the Americas, Australia and Asia Pacific; an international fund management business, which operates across these markets and in continental Europe;...
in Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
. This was the former home of “Loulou” Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt, a Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
cabinet minister who had taken his life on the premises to avert a scandal when his double life as a paedophile and sex offender was in danger of being uncovered. The building, a combination of Nos 69 and 71 Brook Street
Brook Street
Brook Street is one of the principal streets on the Grosvenor Estate in the exclusive central London district of Mayfair. It was developed in the first half of the 18th century and runs from Hanover Square to Grosvenor Square. The continuation from Grosvenor Square to Park Lane is called Upper...
, owes its extravagant dix-huitième interior to Walter Burns, the brother-in-law of financier J.P. Morgan, who adapted it for his wife Fanny to entertain in suitable style. It thus includes an elegant hall, a grand staircase and a lavish ballroom.
Reputation
The Savile's reputation for being literary, academic and arts club is a little erroneous, deriving, perhaps, from its origins as a purely social club rather than a club with political, sporting or professional objectives. Its membership from inception has comprised a “mixture of men of different professions and opinions”. Although its members included many famous actors, composers and writers, this is balanced by the number of eminent scientists, doctors and lawyers, as well as the odd film maker and politician. Members may be renowned for their academic, scientific, literary and artistic achievements, but once inside the Savile, they “leave their halos in the hall”.Savilians
Savile Club members are known as Savilians and the Club’s motto of Sodalitas Convivium implies convivial companionship. Variously described as “even more gregarious than the GarrickGarrick Club
The Garrick Club is a gentlemen's club in London.-History:The Garrick Club was founded at a meeting in the Committee Room at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on Wednesday 17 August 1831...
” and “perhaps the most interesting club in London”, a member is never left sitting on his own as Savilians will make a point of happily talking to other members, regardless of whether they’ve met them before. The traditional mainstays of the Savile are food and drink, good conversation, plaing bridge and poker, and Savile Snooker. This is a nineteenth century version of the game, whose rules were first written down in the mid-20th century by Stephen Potter
Stephen Potter
Stephen Meredith Potter was a British author best known for his mocking self-help books, and film and television derivatives from them....
, who described himself then as "the oldest living player". It is a form of volunteer snooker, with some unusual features (the brown ball is spotted behind baulk on the opposite equivalent of the black spot, and counts 8; yellow and green are not used, "push shots" are allowed, fouling a ball with one's tie has no penalty, and sinking two reds at once means a score of two, for example). The dining room includes two long club tables, derived from the Club’s original table d'hôte
Table d'hôte
Table d'hôte is a French loan phrase which literally means "host's table". It is used as restaurant terminology to indicate a menu where multi-course meals with only a few choices are charged, at a fixed total price. Such a menu may also be called prix fixe . The terms "set meal" and "set menu"...
(a contrast to the contemporary habit of other clubs, where members tended to eat à la carte
À la carte
À la carte is a French language loan phrase meaning "according to the menu", and used in* A reference to a menu of items priced and ordered separately, i.e. the usual operation of restaurants * To order an item from the menu on its own, e.g...
at small separate tables).
Election
To encourage interesting members, but discourage pretentiousness and bores, the Savile has always had a policy of keeping costs and subscriptions low, so as not to exclude potential good members of more modest means, or those “on their way up “, who might find the high cost of the grander London clubs too daunting. Perhaps uniquely, the Savile Club also has no black ball system: candidates simply require the unanimous support of the membership committee. If they fail at the first meeting they are deferred to the next meeting; if they suffer three deferrals their application is quietly dropped.Ups and downs
Most traditional London gentlemen's clubs have had their ups and downs as society changed. The founders were men of financial independence and spare time. Many were aristocrats. As the 20th century progressed, men in such fortunate circumstances began to disappear. As the post-war economy faltered, the clubs began a steady decline in membership and income. The clubs’ members generally resisted change and their buildings deteriorated. Then, coincidentally, most clubs appear to have been struck by some major financial catastrophe, which caused many well established clubs to go under and the rest to undertake necessary, but subtle, changes. The Savile Club was no exception; yet its members’ habit of regularly lunching at the Club on particular days of the week, seems to have stood it in good stead.- “It’s Friday today. I wish I were in the Savile”. (Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
, writing in his diary in SamoaSamoaSamoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
).
The 1980s saw a rise in people’s financial security, a renewed appreciation of the unique virtues and past values of the London club, which, combined with minor changes in clubs’ functioning, brought about a resurgence. Never a rich club, the Savile has seen a growth in membership, a useful injection of cash from the sale of a lease and found itself be an attractive venue for weddings and events, where its more intimate townhouse setting avoids the institutional production-line feel of hotels, pubs and conference centres.
Evolution without change
Some traditions have been lost: regular cigar club dinners went with the smoking banSmoking ban
Smoking bans are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, which prohibit tobacco smoking in workplaces and/or other public spaces...
; ‘the penny
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...
game’ (a form of bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
, using coins rolled down grooves in the banisters of the grand curving staircase) disappeared with decimalisation
Decimalisation
Decimal currency is the term used to describe any currency that is based on one basic unit of currency and a sub-unit which is a power of 10, most commonly 100....
; Friday night candlelit dinners in the ballroom for wives and girlfriends were lost to changing attitudes. Others traditions have evolved: the standard dress is still jacket and tie, but the code has been relaxed slightly to allow for the less formal attire often worn in offices today, but only if it does “not offend other members”; mobile phones are generally banned but can be used in the Club’s old telephone area. The tradition of only offering membership to interesting people who can hold a decent conversation remains the same – bores only get in by mistake.
- The Savile Club as viewed by three visitors from the Guards' ClubGuards' ClubThe 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, Grenadier Guards or Scots Guards, traditionally the most socially elite section of the British Army. Officers of the Welsh and Irish...
:
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- 1st Subaltern: “I say, sir, fairly jolly chaps these Saviles, don’t you think.”
- 2nd Subaltern: “By Jove, rather, seem able to spout away about anything. Quite a treat, sometimes, listening to ‘em.”
- Guards' Colonel: “Quite so, but what a pity they seem to make their own trousers.”
Prominent members
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- William AlwynWilliam AlwynWilliam Alwyn, CBE, born William Alwyn Smith was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.-Life and music:...
- Richard ArnellRichard ArnellRichard Anthony Sayer Arnell was an English composer of classical music. Arnell composed in all the established genres for the concert stage, and his list of works includes six completed symphonies and six string quartets.-Biography:Arnell was born in Hampstead, London...
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- Arthur BenjaminArthur BenjaminArthur Leslie Benjamin was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of Jamaican Rhumba, composed in 1938.-Biography:...
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