Discover London : The Athenaeum Club Pall Mall

Discover London : The Athenaeum Club Pall Mall

The club was founded as a meeting place for men who enjoy the life of the mind. Over the years the membership criteria have been widened and now extend to persons of attainment or promise in any field of an intellectual or artistic nature and of substantial value to the community. Today many of the Members of the Athenæum, indeed a majority, are professionals concerned with science, engineering or medicine, but the clergy, lawyers, writers, artists, civil servants and academics of all disciplines are also heavily represented on the roll, with a small number from business and politics.
The building was designed by an architect who was only twenty four when given the commission. He had been invited by the originator of the Club, John Wilson Croker, to become a Member on the Club's foundation in 1824 and was already noted for his work designing the layout of Hyde Park, the triumphal arches at the entrance to the park at Hyde Park Corner and the Holme in Regent's Park. Burton's father James, also a Member of the Club, had worked alongside the already famous John Nash and James lived to see his son Decimus become almost as famous in his time as Nash himself.