The Arts Club was founded in 1863 by men of vision in order to provide a haven for those people who had professional or amateur relationships with the Arts, Literature or Sciences and it has provided this hospitality and friendship ever since.
In 1896, the Club relocated from its original home on Hanover Square to its present elegant 18th Century townhouse at 40 Dover Street, affording its members a comfortable and impressive base in Mayfair. It has survived two world wars, including a direct hit on the building during the Blitz of 1940.
In the course of its existence the Club has included amongst its members many outstanding figures in the history of art, literature and science: writers such as Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Thomas Hughes; musicians such as Paolo Tosti, Charles Halle and Franz Liszt; artists such as Frederic Leighton, Walter Sickert, John Everett Millais, Auguste Rodin and James McNeill Whistler, as well as an array of pre-eminent surgeons, solicitors and professionals.
