Soho House

Soho House is an 18th-century house in Handsworth, Birmingham, England. It was the home of entrepreneur Matthew Boulton from 1766 until his death in 1809, and a regular meeting-place of the Lunar Society of Birmingham.

It is now a museum, run by Birmingham Museums Trust, celebrating Boulton's life, his partnership with James Watt, his membership of the Lunar Society and his contribution to the Midlands Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.

History

Matthew Boulton, one of the 18th century's greatest entrepreneurs, acquired the lease of the five-year-old Soho Mill in 1761 and developed it into Soho Manufactory. He expanded the cottage next to it into Soho House, changing it several times. It is faced with sheets of painted slate to give the appearance of large stone blocks. Boulton moved into Soho House when the Manufactory was completed. The Soho Manufactory was demolished in 1863.

In 1766 Boulton became one of the founders of the Lunar Society. In 1789, Boulton commissioned Samuel Wyatt to extend the buildings and fully revamp it and the gardens. Work on extending the building was completed in 1796 following the submission of designs by James Wyatt, Samuel's brother, for the additions of a main entrance front. Wyatt was also responsible for the large dining room, the regular venue for meetings of the Lunar Society. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Soho House (club)

Soho House is a group of private members' clubs aimed primarily at those in the arts and media. The original location is at 40 Greek Street, Soho, London, England and the group now includes bars, clubs, hotels and venues around the world including Babington House and Electric Cinema, Notting Hill.

Membership is selective and its members drawn mainly from the media, arts or fashion industries. Members are purged regularly, since the club aims to maintain the right balance of people. The club targets candidates under 27 years, although older people can apply too.

History

Soho House's founder and managing director is Nick Jones.Judith Clegg, founder and CEO of Takeout, and founder of The Glasshouse, is a founding member of the London club.

On 13 January 2012, the Financial Times announced that Soho House Group had been acquired by the US billionaire Ron Burkle, through his investment fund Yucaipa. The acquisition value was not released but Burkle now owns 60% of the group.

In the media

Soho

Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and is part of London's West End. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation as a base for the sex industry in addition to its night life and its location for the headquarters of leading film companies. Since the 1980s, the area has undergone considerable gentrification. It is now predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of sex industry venues.

Soho is a small, multicultural area of central London; a home to industry, commerce, culture and entertainment, as well as a residential area for both rich and poor. It has clubs, including the former Chinawhite nightclub; public houses; bars; restaurants; a few sex shops scattered amongst them; and late-night coffee shops that give the streets an "open-all-night" feel at the weekends. Record shops cluster in the area around Berwick Street, with shops such as Blackmarket Records and Vinyl Junkies.

SoHo, Manhattan

SoHo, sometimes capitalized Soho, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, which in recent history came to the public's attention for being the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, but is now better known for its variety of shops ranging from trendy upscale boutiques to national and international chain store outlets. The area's history is an archetypal example of inner-city regeneration and gentrification, encompassing socio-economic, cultural, political and architectural developments.

The name "SoHo" refers to the area being "South of Houston Street", and was also a reference to Soho, an area in London's West End. It was coined by Chester Rapkin, an urban planner and author of the The South Houston Industrial Area study, also known as the "Rapkin Report". This began a naming convention that became a model for the names of emerging and re-purposed neighborhoods in New York such as TriBeCa for "Triangle Below Canal Street", DUMBO ("Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass"), NoHo ("North of Houston Street"), Nolita ("North of Little Italy") and NoMad ("North of Madison Square"), among others.

SoHo (TV channel)

SoHo is a premium entertainment channel in New Zealand available on Sky Network Television. The channel mainly broadcasts popular shows from American cable networks Showtime, AMC, Starz, HBO, and its sister channel Cinemax, which are themselves not available in New Zealand. It also broadcasts shows from Britain, especially from the BBC, and also broadcasts films.

There is also a SoHo channel in Australia, which launched on 20 August 2012.

Programming

References