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| Early Expansion: The Royal & Ancient Golf Clubhouse 1856 - 1873 - 17 February 2003 | |
| Completed in 1854, the Clubhouse existed to serve the needs of both the golfer and the gentleman at leisure. For the golfer, it provided washing and dressing facilities, as well as space to store his club box and for the gentleman in pursuit of indoor activities, there was the option of billiards, cards, reading, smoking and dining. By 1856, however, it had become obvious that the existing space could be put to better use. The upper floor was used only for storing club boxes and there was a great deal of empty space in the basement. The original architect George Rae was commissioned in October 1856 to produce plans showing bedrooms and other improvements. He devised a scheme for seven bedrooms on the upper floor, although it is not clear if Rae also prepared plans for a new kitchen, scullery and servants' apartments in the basement, which were produced at the same time and debated at the May Meeting in 1857. The bedroom scheme was highly contentious. It had been proposed by Sir Thomas Moncrieffe, a past Captain of the Club, but was totally opposed by the Club's Committee of Management. They felt that "instead of a quiet, agreeable lounge primarily and chiefly an accessory to the enjoyment of golf, the Club would become a sort of hotel, not improved by the change to the great majority of members". There were also concerns on moral grounds. Taking in overnight visitors would mean employing a housemaid. The committee "would merely hint at probable consequences - unemployed female servants in so large a house, doors open at all hours to young men, caddies and others". No such unseemly liaisons were to be contemplated above or below stairs. On July 2, 1857 it was unanimously agreed that the Clubhouse would remain non-residential for members. Back in May, the members had agreed to a series of alterations in the basement. Completed in July, the work was motivated by the members' desire to dine in the Clubhouse rather than in a hotel. The room intended for the caddies was converted into a kitchen and scullery and the wine cellar was expanded. One early problem was the need for more club boxes, or lockers. In October 1861, the Committee of Management was asked to consider adding one of the rooms on the ground floor to the public rooms in order to allow more space for club boxes. The architect selected was Jesse Hall. Born in Roxburghshire in 1820, his architectural career had taken off during the 1850s. Hall's first identifiable work was the Congregational Church on Bell Street, St Andrews. Built in 1853-54, it coincided with the construction of the Clubhouse. Further commissions in St Andrews followed and in 1862, he employed David Henry as an assistant. They became partners in 1874. In January 1862, Hall presented his plans "to convert the room to the front of the Club House into an apartment for containing additional club boxes". The steward, who had previously resided on the ground floor, was allocated two apartments upstairs "in lieu thereof, over and above the kitchen and small room to the north". In addition, Hall was asked to add three wash hand basins to the centre dressing room and a urinal in the larger of the three water closets. The committee wanted the work carried out "as speedily as possible". It was completed by May at a cost of £270. The removal of the steward's accommodation from the ground floor was the first real attempt to make use of the space on the upper floor. As a result, windows were added to the upper floor for the first time. The following year Hall was given a further brief to consider the practicalities of providing baths in the Clubhouse and of installing small dressing rooms. It was agreed that such facilities would increase the comfort of the members. Again, Hall's plan was to make use of the space on the upper floor. Finding that there would be no difficulty in providing three additional dressing rooms at a moderate outlay, he was instructed to proceed with the work and to add a cistern and sink. Work was in progress by May and it was completed shortly thereafter. The total cost of building and furnishing the new rooms plus some improvements to the billiard room was £315. The third architect to contribute to the Clubhouse was J.L. Fogo. Based in Stirlingshire, Fogo was approached by the Committee of Management in 1865 with the remit to increase the length of the large hall and replace the recessed window with a bay window. Of all the architects who were employed to work on the Clubhouse during the 19th century, Fogo was the only one to be based outwith St Andrews. Fogo's plans were presented in December 1865. The bay window that he proposed added about 12 feet to the length of the room. His proposal also included "a veranda on each side of the window which will occupy the whole space on the west front of all the Club House, not taken up by the window, as proposed to be reconstructed". The plans were approved and immediately went out to tender. Although Hall was not involved in the design aspect of this project, he was not left out completely. With Fogo living near Stirling, distance was a problem. It therefore became Hall's responsibility to act as the project architect by producing working plans of the new window and supervising the contractors. Both architects carried out progress inspections of the work, which was completed in 1866. The first bay window bore little resemblance to the well-known feature that looks out over the Old Course today. It had a flat roof and the stonework was decorated with a Greek key pattern. The tops of the new windows were above the floor level of the upper storey so that internally the bay window area would have been higher than the rest of the room. While the bay window was being constructed, more space on the upper floor was being converted into a bedroom. The work was reported at a meeting on October 3, 1867. The new bedroom was built to accommodate the women servants. According to the Club's minutes this was necessary, "as the services of a boy have become indispensable in the house and as there had been previously no proper accommodation". By 1870, most of the empty space of Rae's structure had been filled. The building was being fully utilised and membership was continuing to increase, having risen by over 40 per cent since the Clubhouse opened 16 years previously. There was now considerable pressure on the existing facilities. Representations were made by a number of members to the Committee of Management to add a second billiard table, which meant a new room. Despite the committee's response that any enlargement to the Club was financially impossible at that particular time, they nevertheless did some investigative work. They considered isolating the toilet area, adding more dressing rooms, increasing the size of the dining room and adding a second billiard room. It became clear, however, that there simply was not enough space to implement these changes. The Committee of Management recommended that alterations be put on hold "until such times as the Club are in a position to sanction a reconstruction and addition to the building to meet the requirements of the increasing number of members". Despite financial concerns, the committee was empowered in May 1871 to have architect David Henry draw up plans for the proposed additions and to obtain rough estimates of the costs. By September the committee had proceeded no further, as it was not considered financially expedient, a frugal attitude which soon changed when it was learned that they would literally have to put money down the drain to overcome a common Victorian problem. In November 1871, there were complaints about "the evils as regards smell" coming from the water closets. Hall and Henry were brought in to inspect the Clubhouse and to report on the feasibility of moving the toilets outside the existing building, adding another billiard room and another dressing room. Surprisingly enough, these were the very proposals that had been put forward 18 months earlier. Additional facilities for members may have been a bit of a luxury, but fixing the drains and segregating the toilets was rapidly becoming an urgent necessity. David Henry's plans were unveiled on April 29, 1872. He proposed adding a north wing, containing a new billiard room and a toilet block. He also planned some alterations to the steward's accommodation and a new staircase to the upper flat. He estimated the total cost at around £1,000. The Club acquired by feu the land adjacent to the north side of the Clubhouse and the plans were approved in principle at the Spring Meeting. Work took place over the winter and the billiard room was completed by April 1873. The whole project cost £1,430. The new billiard room, which in modified form is now the North Room, was designed to blend in with the existing west side of the building. The single west-facing window copied the style of Rae's window design, thus presenting a uniform look to the exterior. Both the new and existing billiard rooms were lit from above by skylights in the form of cupolas. The toilet block was built behind the new billiard room, running along the north side of the building. George Rae's original north side was encased within the new work. With each subsequent phase of expansion, less and less of the original building would be apparent. Meanwhile, with all the new work completed, the number of members of the Club was fixed at 750. This was the last alteration to the Clubhouse under the auspices of the Union Club. Hall and Henry prepared plans for adding a porch to the main entrance in 1876, but the Club was preoccupied with other matters, such as the formal merger with the Royal and Ancient, and all action was deferred. The impetus for the next building phase began in 1878 and was to result in some magnificent new architecture, but only after a long running series of disputes between seven different architects and the Club. |
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