The Reform Club was founded in 1836, in Pall Mall, in the centre of what is often called London's Clubland.  The founders commissioned a leading architect of the day, Charles Barry, to build an imposing and palatial clubhouse.  It is as splendid today as when it opened in 1841.  Membership was restricted to those who pledged support for the Great Reform Act of 1832, and the many MPs and Whig peers among the early members developed the Club as the political headquarters of the Liberal Party.