- St James's Club and Hotel
The St James's Club & Hotel is a
five star hotel Fact|date=March 2007 at 7-8, Park Place,St James ’s,London SW1A 1LP.Facilities
The hotel has fifty-six rooms and twelve suites, many of which have their own terraces, plus a penthouse with a party deck for sixty people. Following renovations and reopening in spring of 2008, it will be known as the 'The St James Hotel and Club'.
History
The hotel says at its web site that it "first opened its doors, as a gentlemen’s chamber for the English aristocracy, in 1892." [http://www.stjamesclubandhotel.co.uk/ stjamesclubandhotel.co.uk] (accessed 12 January 2008)] At that time the original
St James's Club was elsewhere. However, the buildings at 7-8, Park Place, were erected as blocks of flats in 1891-92. [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40627&strquery=7,%20Park%20Place#s3 "Survey of London" vols 29-30 (1960)] covering the parish of St James's Westminster, at british-history.ac.uk (accessed 12 January 2008)]A club known as the Field Club was at 7, Park Place, in 1889. On 13 May 1889, the police raided the club and found
baccarat in progress. Twenty-one persons were arrested, "among whom were three English and several French and Belgian noblemen..." Among those arrested were the Earl of Dudley (laterGovernor-General of Australia ), Lord Lurgan, 'Lord Paulet' (probably a son of the 15thMarquess of Winchester ) and Baron Ferraro. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B01E6DF1030E633A25750C1A9639C94689FD7CF "The New York Times" archive] (accessed 12 January 2008)]The sporting
Sir John Dugdale Astley, 3rd Baronet , died in his chambers at 7, Park Place, 10 October 1894. ["Astley, Sir John Dugdale", in "Dictionary of National Biography "]By 1960, the flats were being called "Old St James's House", a name apparently without historical support. They were originally planned with forty-four sets of residential chambers, plus service rooms. [London County Council, "Survey of London"] .
There is no connection with the former
St James's Club founded in 1857 by Earl Granville and the Marchese d'Azeglio.Footnotes
External links
* [http://www.stjamesclubandhotel.co.uk/ official web site]
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