3-011-808 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

New building of the Garrick Club, King-Street, Covent-Garden, 1864. '...view of the new Garrick Club, just erected by Mr. Frederick Marrable...The house is Italian, and is imposing, from having been judiciously and not over enriched...All the apartments demanded by the habits of the day - some of them were not thought necessary in the days of Garrick - are, of course, provided - two bath-rooms included...The Garrick Club is rather a remarkable one. It was instituted for the purpose of bringing together the "patrons" of the drama and its professors, and also for offering literary men a rendezvous; and the managers of the club have kept those general objects steadily in view. Nearly all the leading actors are members, and there are few of the active literary men of the day who are not upon the list. The large majority of the association is composed of the representatives of all the best classes of society. The number of the members is limited'. At the time of writing (2024) the club remains restricted to male members, although women guests are welcome as visitors. Past attempts to open the club to women members have failed to attain the necessary two-thirds majority. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.