Pall Mall

Pall Mall is a street in Westminster, west London, connecting St. James’s Street to Trafalgar Square. The road was constructed in 1661. From the nineteenth century, it was home to a number of gentlemen’s clubs, some of which survive. The street was one of the first in London to be lit by gas in 1807. The street takes its name from the ball game pall-mall, which is similar to croquet, as the first pall-mall court in England was established just north of Haymarket-St. James Road.

Coordinates

Latitude: 51.507118700000
Longitude: -0.132600100000

View on the COVE Master Map

Timeline of Events Associated with Pall Mall

Date Event Manage
29 Apr 1854

Exhibition of French Paintings at Pall Mall

engraving of Pall Mall 121On 29 April 1854, the first Annual Exhibition of French Paintings opened at 121 Pall Mall. Image: G. C. Leighton after R. Sandeman, Pall Mall No. 120 and 121, n.d. Engraving. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

The exhibition was organized by the art dealer Ernest Gambart and held in the space that would soon become known as the French Gallery. The exhibition marked the first instance of a recognizably modern commercial art gallery, a development that profoundly changed the physical, economic and social relationships between artists, dealers, art objects and viewers.

Articles

Pamela Fletcher, “On the Rise of the Commercial Art Gallery in London”