Description

The following building shall be added to the list:-

TQ 2482 SE KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA
KENSAL ROAD
(North side)

249-/7/10034 Nos. 170 and 172 Cobden
Working Men's Club

- II

Working Men's Club. 1880 by Pennington and Brigden. Grey brick with red brick dressings
and ground floor, on Portland stone plinth. Three storeys high, with staircase set either side
of bars on two lower floors, with double-height theatre above extending into projecting gable.
Asymmetrical composition of regular three-bay centre, with single window for door and
staircase to either side, and a narrow two-bay extension to left over carriageway and
containing manager's accommodation. Metal casements to upper windows, those to theatre
with round-arched tracery and to staircases with margin lights containing coloured glass;
arched windows to ground floor with toplights. C20 doors under rounded openings with
gauged brickwork and toplights. Parapet and gable with stone arcaded edging. Band over first
floor inscribed 'COBDEN WORKING MEN'S CLUB AND INSTITUTE'.

Interior has turned baluster staircases to either side of public rooms for full height of
building. Ground floor bar retains original fireplace and surround, with cast-iron columns
and cornices hidden false ceiling. First floor has similar columns and corniced boxed in and
obscured. Second floor theatre of five bays, with female heads supporting each timber truss.
Stage at north end in panelled surround. Side walls arcaded, with pairs of double doors with
coloured margin lights at either side. Contemporary pay box or bat at eastern entrance.

Included as the earliest known surviving purpose-built working men's club, retaining many
original features, particularly in having a contemporary theatre or song room on its upper
level.

Listing NGR: TQ2452982262

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27081440

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)