Friends excursions: Royal Automobile Club
Afternoon guided tour
Wednesday 8 November 2017 3 - 4.30pm
Meet at Royal Automobile Club, 89 Pall Mall, London SW1Y
£30.
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This highly exclusive tour with Club librarian Trevor Dunmore for RA Friends will take in the magnificent grandeur of the club, designed by architects Mewes and Davis.
Opened in March 1911 at a cost of £250,000, a Vanity Fair article of the era described the Royal Automobile Clubhouse as being ‘on a scale of grandeur absolutely unparalleled anywhere.’ The architects Mewes and Davis were also the architects of the Ritz Hotel on nearby Piccadilly.
The club contains Edwardian Turkish baths, an Italian marble swimming pool, squash courts, a snooker room, three restaurants, two bars, a fully equipped club shop and one of the smallest Post Offices in the country. Formerly, the basement also contained a bowling alley and a rifle range. The club houses an impressive selection of trophies, many of which are still awarded, including the British Grand Prix Trophy, the Dewar and Segrave Trophies and examples of British sporting art.
The Club Librarian will also discuss the RAC’s early history as a leisure and motoring organisation and their holdings of historical motoring publications.
Please note that a jacket and tie dress code applies.
A morning tour of the Royal Automobile Club will be held from 11am-12.30pm on the same day.
£30.
Friends of the RA book first
Booking and attending Friends excursions and events