The back of 37 Dover street (formerly the Bishop of Ely's House) was taken down to combine the two properties.

The Club was the first place to combine a womens smoking balcony - How shocking!

They were occupied by the Oxford University press for many years and later owned and renovated by Friends Provident. 37 Dover Street was grade one listed and berks (as it was known) was grade two.

Berks was a facade retention exercise and Dover street was a far more complicated business and I will always remember the lantern, the horseshoe staircase and an extremely elderly man on a tall ladder replacing the gold l;eaf to the cornices as the plasterboard was stripped out.

There were three buildings that fascinated me in London at that time - 37 Dover Street, St Pancreas and Ibex House. They are all fascinating in their history, their construction and their capacity to inspire awe in their own ways.

I was very very fortunate to watch the skills involved not only in the restoration of Elys House which involved such craftsmen, but also to see how a facade retention worked to make an old building as good as any modern office block but with style