Travel back with us to our 2017 redecoration of the Coffee Room at the Traveller’s Club in Pall Mall.

Founded in 1819 for ‘gentlemen who had travelled out of the British Isles to a distance of at least 500 miles from London in a straight line’, the Traveller’s Club held it’s original premises at 12 Waterloo Place, before moving to 49 Pall Mall in 1821 and then to 106 Pall Mall in 1826.

Designed by architect Sir Charles Barry (who would later become architect for the Houses of Parliament), the Traveller’s Club proved to be one of his masterpieces, taking the form of a Renaissance palace said to have been inspired by Raphael’s Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence. Barry was paid just under £1,500 for his work (the modern equivalent of around £149,500) and became a member of the club himself in 1834.

In 1911, the Coffee Room was transferred upstairs and the original room converted to the Smoking Room. At the same time, the Hall was enlarged by absorbing the western bay of the Court. In 1930-31, two new storeys were added over the Billiard Room by H.L. Andersen. Bomb damage sustained during World War II was repaired in the early 1950’s and more recently, the Club has been renovated and the delicate plasterwork and panelling restored.

In 2017, Britain & Co. were commissioned to undertake the redecoration of the current Coffee Room, undertaking minor repair work to the windows and joinery, re-lining the ceiling bed, carrying out mahogany graining to the doors, repainting the room and carrying out gilding to the ceilings and cornices in 23.5ct gold.

The colour scheme was informed by paint analysis carried out by Patrick Baty, and our paints were supplied by Papers and Paints.

One of our most varied projects, our work at the Traveller’s Club gave our team the opportunity to use a lot of different skills in order to achieve this rich finish and was well received by the members!