The City of London is very much a patchwork of the centuries. Each era jostles for space in the tightly-packed financial district, where the Romans established Londinium, nearly two thousand years ago. Not far from the Bank of England, wedged between a 17th century church and a 21st century glass office block you will find a curious little building.
it is towered over today and many compare it to the house from the films Up or Stuart Little. But what is inside?
It is, in fact, the home of the City of London’s only family-run private members’ club, The Walbrook Club. It is not as old as it might initially seem, it is a pastiche, but is indicative of the rich tapestry of lives, whims and tussles that make up London’s history and cityscape.
I have walked past it many times and have always been intrigued by it, so I was delighted to be invited to have a nose around.
A Lost River
The building sits just off a street called Walbrook. This nods to one of London’s ‘lost rivers’, the River Walbrook, that once flowed along this route, through the heart of Roman London and into the Thames.
The Walbrook was eventually culverted and built over in the 15th and 16th centuries. On the banks of the Walbrook in the Roman period was the Temple of Mithras, a underground Roman cult temple. The remains of these can be seen today underneath the ultra-modern Bloomberg Building opposite the Walbrook Club. I have written a blog post about it before here.
The remains of the temple were discovered in the rubble of the Blitz, during post-war rebuilding. This brings me on to the origins of the Walbrook Club building itself.
Post-War Origins
The City of London was extremely heavily bombed during the Blitz. As you can see from the bomb damage map below, the area around Walbrook was largely destroyed, purple designating ‘damaged beyond repair’.
The night of the 10th-11th May 1941, was particularly devastating, often referred to as the ‘Second Great Fire of London’ due to the sweeping destruction caused by incendiary bombs. 1,000 tons of bombs were dropped on London by the Luftwaffe that night, claiming 1,486 lives and destroying 11,000 houses. The tide was low in the river and broken water mains deprived the firefighters of water.
The Walbrook Club building was constructed in the early 1950s on this bombsite, nestled up against the side of Wren’s 17th century St Stephen Walbrook church.
The building was designed and built for property developer Rudolph Palumbo as the family offices. It was designed in the style of a Queen Anne townhouse, to give it a homely feel. Rudolph was born in London in 1901 to Italian immigrant parents Pasquale and Gaetana Palumbo, who ran a cafe on nearby Lower Thames Street.
He made a fortune before the war through his property development company City Acre and then after the war by developing bombsites. He was buried in the churchyard of St Stephen Walbrook after his death in 1987. His son, Peter Palumbo, also became a property developer.
A Controversial Development
Peter Palumbo’s career was not without controversy. From 1962–1985, Palumbo commissioned and pushed for a 19-storey modernist office tower designed by German-born pioneering modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe on the corner of Poultry and Queen Victoria Street.
The proposal was highly contentious, with modernist architecture enthusiasts pitted against conservationists. Prince Charles notoriously described the design as a “glass stump”.
The plan was eventually quashed. An alternative scheme, that did get approved, was the post-modernist Number One Poultry by James Stirling, completed in 1997. The site was previously occupied by a Victorian Neo-Gothic Mappin and Webb building, which was controversially demolished in 1994.
Number One Poultry received a Grade II* listing in 2016 for its unique architecture, making it one of the youngest listed buildings in the country.
Peter was heavily involved in the arts, being the last Chairman of the unified Arts Council of Great Britain. He was also a Trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1978-85, as well as chairing, or being the trustee for, various other arts and architecture organisations: the Whitechapel Art Gallery, Natural History Museum, Architecture Foundation and more.
St Stephen Walbrook
As I mentioned, the club is nestled up against the side of St Stephen Walbrook church, one of Sir Christopher Wren’s most magnificent post-Great Fire of London churches. Completed in 1672, St Stephen’s was used by Wren to practice designs he then implemented in St Paul’s Cathedral.
Peter Palumbo was a churchwarden and led a restoration of the church from 1978-87, strengthening the foundations and installing a new altar designed by Henry Moore. The central, circular design was meant to represent the Eucharist at the heart of the community, shifting away from the traditional orientation of a church. Again, this was highly controversial requiring approval from the Court of Ecclesiastical Cases Reserved.
The Rector of the church from 1953 until his retirement in 2003 was Chad Varah. He retired at the age of 92, making him the Church of England’s oldest incumbent at the time. He was also the family chaplain to the Palumbo family and is best known for setting up the Samaritans in the crypt in 1953. You can still see the original black telephone inside the church today.
The Walbrook Club
After a meeting between Peter (Lord Palumbo by this point as Margaret Thatcher gave him a peerage in 1991), and Mark Birley, socialite and founder of Annabel’s club in Mayfair in 1963, he decided to turn the building into a member’s club.
The Walbrook Club opened officially in the year 2000, housed in the old family offices, after a significant restoration. The interiors were designed by Birley with a focus on comfortable luxury.
In 2018 the running of the club was taken on by Peter’s son Philip Palumbo, who I met and showed me around the building. Philip has modernised the club, relaxing the dress code and bringing in younger members. He has also expanded the speaker program and added to the quirky art collection. The interiors are eclectic with a mixture of memorabilia, art works and family photographs giving it a comfortable, individualistic feel.
You can find out more about the various rooms here, as well as more information about the club.
Though the building itself is no great relic, more pastiche than strictly historical, it nevertheless speaks to the incredible layered architecture of the City. Each era sits side by side with Roman remains beneath glass towers, next to 17th-century churches and everything in between.
Thank you for reading, more of London’s eccentric historical spots below…
Six Historic Havens For Wildlife In The City
London is one of the world’s greenest cities. It has its famous sweeping parks, but…
Celebrating 60 Years Of The London Ambulance Service
2025 marks the 60th anniversary of one of London’s most essential services: the London Ambulance…
What Are The Odd Red Pillars By Blackfriars Bridge?
If you have ever walked over Blackfriars Bridge you may well have spotted these odd…
Forest Hill To Honor Oak: A Quirky Historical Walk
I recently went on a wonderful historical walk around Forest Hill in South London. My…
Very interesting and informative. Thankyou.
Fantastic post, Jack! I have often wondered about the very same building. Thank you.
Fascinating post, Jack (as always). Given that the family were of Italian origin, I thought perhaps they would have had a model of the ship ‘Arandora Star’ on display, rather than the Saturnia, for the Italian lives that were lost.
The City of London may be small but its full of interest!
I know it well and always admire it! I often sit in the church just gazing up at the dome and then marvelling at the design. I have to admit I rather prefer it to St. Paul’s – partly because it’s quiet and not overrun with tourists!