I was walking past the Garrick Club last week and stopped to admire the grandeur of its façade, now that it is no longer covered in soot and grime. It was no wonder that I could not identify its architect, a man named Frederick Marrable, a pupil of Blore. He was architect of the Metropolitan Board of Works, responsible for settling claims, laying out Burdett Road and the design of Holborn Viaduct. The Garrick is a more than halfway decent piece of Clubland classicism, with its high entrance, its dining room remote from the street and surprisingly good stone detailing:-




Those Victorian builders! The façade is not actually stone, but stucco and jolly difficult to clean. A kind of poultice had to be used to get the soot and dirt out.