Hope House was built at 116 Piccadilly in 1849/50 by Henry Pelham-Clinton, the 6th Duke of Newcastle. The name Athenaeum first appears around 1864 when the house was bought by the Junior Athenaeum Club. The house was redeveloped in the 1930s as an art deco apartment block, still called the Athenaeum. For over twenty years Sally Bulloch was the Executive Manager. In 1992, the Athenaeum was purchased by Ralph Trustees Limited, a family-run business who also own The Grove in Hertfordshire and the Runnymede Hotel & Spa near Windsor.