History
1882 to the present
The Hove Club started in a small way in 1882 and it was so successful in attracting new members that by the 1890s it was able to commission the building of the imposing premises which it still occupies today, in Fourth Avenue in the heart of Victorian Hove.
Originally, as the list of Chairmen in the hall shows, the membership had a distinctly military character.
Today, the Club welcomes members of both sexes from a wide range of professional & business backgrounds.
In affectionate remembrance of English cricket which died at The Oval, 29th August 1882. Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances. RIP. N.B. The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia."
The Sporting Times
In 1882, England’s cricketing pride took a blow, The same year, Venus passed between the Earth and the Sun, an event which occurred again only in
2004.
Charles Darwin died. Franklin D Roosevelt, Igor Stravinsky and James Joyce were born. Gladstone was PM. And an enterprising group of Hove citizens created The Hove Club.
The Hove Club in circa 1900
The Hove Club June 2015
The Hove Club is now a Grade 2 Listed Building.
In the 115 years since the first picture little has basically changed to the facade of the Building.
The addition of Central Heating in the 1960s lead to the removal of the ugly cowls on the chimneys. The Terrace on the Ground floor was built in the 1960s and provided Garden access to the Members Bar and the largest of our rooms the Holland Room and was part supported by an extension to the Members Dining
Room on the Lower Ground Floor.
The Glass Roof provided additional daylight through internal skylights on to the Billiard tables on the First Floor. In 1897 Electricity was in it infancy and expensive Today it still provides light into the Offices of Cardens, a firm of Accountants.
You can just see on the right that one of the little trees in the 1900 picture is now almost to the height of the roof.
The beauty of the Avenues, The Drive and most of this area of Hove owes a lot to the foresight of the Victorian tree planting in the streets and the quality of the architecture of the buildings like the Hove Club.
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