Date/Time
Date(s) - Wednesday, April 20, 2022
6:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Location
Mansion House
Categories
This event has now closed.
Whatever you do, make sure that you do not to miss this fabulous event, a show-stopper with everyone dressed to impress. Carmen are privileged to be invited to the Lord Mayor’s residence – the Mansion House – where we will present our Carmen Awards after a sumptuous meal.
Celebrations will start with a reception, where you will have the opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new ones.
A call to dinner will be made by our Beadle and we will enter the splendour of the famous Egyptian Room (which has nothing Egyptian about its decoration). It should properly be known as the Roman Hall, as it is based on designs by Vitruvius, the classical Roman architect of buildings in Egypt, with giant columns supporting a narrower attic area. The Italian architect, Andrea Palladio, was much taken by this style in the 16th century and it was very fashionable in the 18th century.
The marble statues date from 1854-64 and the stained glass from 1868. The paintwork is close to the original stone colour which, with its gilding, is intended to create a dignified effect, appropriate to this great civic interior.
This is not a dinner, it’s a banquet with all the grandeur that you would expect of the best house in the City of London. There is always a little surprise along the way that will ‘wow’ you!
Until the mid-18th century, Lords Mayor used their own houses or livery halls for their work as head of the City’s governmental, judicial and civic functions. The idea of creating a permanent residence came after the Great Fire of 1666 to provide a house for Lords Mayor who did not have their own livery hall.
It was almost a century later, however, that architect and Clerk of the City’s Works, George Dance the Elder, was chosen to design and build the Mansion House. The first stone was laid in 1739 and the house was completed in 1758. The first Lord Mayor to take up residence was Sir Crispin Gascoigne.
Please read about Dress Code and Etiquette here if you have any concerns about this very special event.
The cost is £140 per person including VAT. Please complete the form below to book your place(s). Alternatively, please click here for the form to download and sent back to the Deputy Clerk.