The Wellesley Hotel – from a gentlemen’s club to boutique hotel and Freemason’s meeting space

The hotel is a 1920s neo-Georgian Style Heritage Category One building, designed by architect William Gray Young (1885-1962). Wellesley was the family name for the Duke of Wellington, and both the Wellington and Wellesley clubs were established to be the equivalents of London gentlemen’s clubs – places to “socialise, drink, dine, relax and occasionally reside.”

In the 1990s a majority shareholding was sold by the Club and the building became a heritage hotel / function centre. Since 2009 it has been owned by a group of private investors associated with the Westminster Lodge of Freemasons. The remaining part of the second-floor billiard room is now the Freemason’s meeting room.

Stuart Brooker, part owner and initiator of the Boutique Hotel and architect Warwick Bell will discuss their long-standing commitment to preserving and renewing this significant building. The visit will provide an opportunity to visit the Freemasons’ lodge and parts of the building not normally open to the public.

Lunch (at own cost) will be available in CornerCopia prior and Drinks (cash bar in Grand Dining Room) will be available after.