It is not given to many buildings to serve as a Presbyterian church, a spiritualists' meeting place and, finally, as one of London's famous luncheon and dining clubs. The Belfry has been all these things.
Built in 1830 and leased by the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Belfry was set in the colourful area of Belgravia in West Halkin Street, a thoroughfare made about twenty years earlier and named after the Duke of Westminster's seat in Flintshire.
Few records of the first thirty-six years of the church's existence remain although, in a report of 1848, the district was
"proverbial for rioting and disorder, for drunkenness and ignorance. Many a dark deed has been planned there, many a criminal act."
Transferred to the congregation of Ranelagh Chapel in Chelsea in 1866, the church addressed itself resolutely to evangelical reform, with zealous workers who organised a Sabbath School and Mothers' Meetings.
Expansion of the building in 1882 at a cost of £5,000 allowed five hundred worshippers to attend morning and evening services, while an afternoon service was held for domestic servants in the area.