No.1 Savile Row......a bit about

No.1 Savile Row was originally constructed as the family home of the Fairfax family and was the first to be built during the second phase of Burlington’s estate development in the 1730’s, designed by famed architect William Kent. On September 29 1870 the building was sold to the Royal Geographical Society (for £14,400). According to records, some £3798 were spent on alterations to make it suitable for occupation by the Royal Geographical Society. These alterations included the construction of glass clear-storied map room in the former courtyard of the premises that remains the focus of the building to this day.(Sheppard FHW, 1963) By 1881 a small astronomical observatory had been constructed on the roof of the building. In 1912 the premises were gifted to Gieves and Hawkes, sold to the outfitters for a cut rate in honour of their services to British Explorers. The business itself dates from the late 18th Century, formed by the amelioration of the two revered establishments of James Watson Gieves and Thomas Hawkes. Indeed before joining forces, separately Messrs. Gieves and Hawkes had a long and illustrious career outfitting a veritable who’s-who of British explorers, royalty and ‘the great and the good.

section through no.1 savile row, showing the ground floor map room and roof top observatory


Central to the premises of no.1 Savile Row is the grand ‘Map Room’, constructed during the buildings occupation by the Royal Geographical Society. As previously intimated, the change of use of the premises presented an interesting juncture in the project, and alluded to richer analogic opportunities that were absent when the project focused on the generic Savile Row tailor. During the Royal Geographical Society’s time at no.1, the Map Room was a hot house for British explorers and many of Britain’s legendary expeditions were cultivated within its walls- from David Livingstone to Robert Falcon Scott. So that ‘even when 1 savile row passes away the spirit of geography must surely continue to haunt that corner’ (Mill, 1930)



Concordantly, during occupation by the Royal Geographical Society, cartographic practices played a central role in the buildings workings, with a particular focus on the teaching of map projection, plotting, and drawing. (Markham, Sir C.R, 1891) The building was laden with numerous drawing rooms, instrument rooms and map mounting rooms, and on the roof of the premises was a small observatory that contained a transit theodolite, a 5 inch theodolite; a sextant; an artificial horizon: and a hypsometrical apparatus