History
The Chelsea Arts Club was originally located in rooms at no. 181 King's Road. In 1902, the club moved to larger premises at no. 143 Old Church Street. In 1933 the club's premises, which had an acre of garden, were remodeled. The clubhouse includes a snooker room, bedrooms, dining room, former 'ladies bar' turned private party room, and a garden.
From 1908 to 1958 the club held a series of public fancy dress balls at the Albert Hall, latterly on New Year's Eve, which raised funds for artists' charities, but they ceased owing to their notoriety and rowdiness, and private functions with lavish decorations and themes were held at the club instead.
In 1966 the club was redecorated, a new bar was opened, and membership was opened to women artists. Although normally a plain white building, the club exterior is occasionally painted to coincide with a themed event. In 2010 it was painted bright colours with images of circus performers affixed to the exterior, and in 2011 was painted to appear as if it had been bombed in order to coincide with celebrations marking 70 years since the end of The Blitz.
Read more about this topic: Chelsea Arts Club
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Don’t you realize that this is a new empire? Why, folks, there’s never been anything like this since creation. Creation, huh, that took six days, this was done in one. History made in an hour. Why it’s a miracle out of the Old Testament!”
—Howard Estabrook (1884–1978)