110 Denbigh St (Major Update, May 2026)

Major Revision 17/05/26 to reflect fresh Don Avard's involvement and fresh understanding
Updated 20/7/24 with more information about the use of the house and garden
Updated 18/04/26 with a suggestion for the location of Clavering's Studio within the house 

 

110 Denbigh St in 2022
click to enlarge

110 Denbigh St (seen in the middle of the picture above with the black door) was Royale Studio's base for the whole of its existence from 1957-1962. According to the electoral register, it was Basil Clavering's home from 1957 to 1965.  

 

Royale Studio Advertisement in 'Tomorrow's Man' magazine (1958)

 

Above, Clavering published his address quite openly in ads for the studio. He must have had quite a few personal visitors!

 

 

Typical Terraced House Layout
Oriented to match 110 Denbigh St

 

This layout is typical of British terraced houses built in the 19th century, like Denbigh Street. Pictures of Don Avard published by 'Adonis' in May 1958 show an interior of a house which is probably Clavering's. That would imply that there was a sitting room on the first floor occupying the whole width of the house with double windows. 

There's good evidence that Basil set up a studio at the Denbigh St address, reputedly in the cellar. The modern building and it's neighbours, seen above, all seem to have a basement room with a window at the front rather than a cellar, and this will have always been there in some form. The layout probably mirrors the ground floor, shown above. 

 

The studio we see in image 2 from the Whip Duel set, could well be located here, because you can see an ordinary internal door in it. (See 'Outside Locations', below for a further clue). The position of the door suggests it was the rear reception room. Since it seems to be blocked, it may be that there was another opening which we can't see into the front room, this was a common adaptation. 

  

Clavering may have referred to his basement rooms as 'the cellar' and the genuine cellar shots that appear in Unapproved School, Part 2 and Escape may have led to the belief that this was the studio, but you can see that it was too small to have accommodated bulky backdrops and props like the roundel. 

 

The brochure for the Colville Exhibition says Royale pictures "were taken in the basement (not cellar) of Clavering's home in Chelsea". This conflicts with other accounts which specify Pimilico. When Basil died, his address was given as Chelsea, and it's rather like Denbigh St with a basement, but I don't know if he owned it when he was living in Denbigh St.   

It's also claimed that Basil used the garden of No 110 for his photos, but this is very unlikely -  see separate section below.

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When Dolphin Photography (later Hussar) was split off in 1960 they set up shop elsewhere, in Golden Square. It's not known if the Dolphin pub, seen at the right in the picture above, had anything to do with the naming of Dolphin photography. There was bomb damage here during the blitz (see below) and the it's a newish replacement building, but apparently there was formerly a 'New Dolphin' hostelry on the same site. The whole area has connections with the name, Dolphin. Dolphin Square, once described as the most notorious address in London is just round the corner.

The house is situated in the Pimlico area of London, just north of the river and about 15 minutes walk from the Houses of Parliament, Tate Gallery and Buckingham Palace. The grand houses with room for servants tell you it was an upmarket area in the 1700-1800's, but by the 1930's many of the houses were split into rented rooms. Quentin Crisp in 'The Naked Civil Servant', relates how he rented such a room in Denbigh St as his first, independent home. By Clavering's time, the nearby area around Victoria Station was notoriously seedy and home to the (then) infamous Biograph Cinema. 

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The 'Garden' Location(s?)

Basil uses outdoor 'garden' shots in these early photo sets:

• Unapproved School (Part 2) 
• Navy Romeo (Part 2)
• Captivity/Escape 
• Solo sets of Tibor Urgay, David Reid, 
• Mike Scudder (link pending).

 

A modern aerial view of the house (outlined below in red) 

doesn't show very much garden at all at the Denbigh Street property. 

Click here to enlarge

The small garden is bounded at either side by similar properties and at the end by mews houses. These would have been coach houses for the property originally and for that reason align exactly with them physically and chronologically. Most were converted into residences and sold off when carriages fell out of use, but they still formed the end boundary of No 110's garden in Basil's time. 

This area sustained a great deal of bomb damage during the war. The map below from Bomb Sight shows that 3 fell at the front of the property and 2 in the mews behind it. 

Click to enlarge

I don't think these bombing locations can be exact, but it's been reported elsewhere that bombs fell directly on the mews buildings. The same site describes what is there today as 'original surviving' and they don't appear to be modern rebuilds, so it's likely that the bombs were responsible for the large open space seen in the lower part of the aerial picture which includes the site of the new build, Dolphin pub, two doors down from No 110. 

 

It's possible that Basil had an undeveloped bomb site on his doorstep in 1957, but it's unlikely that it could have formed the elegant garden shown below in 'Unapproved School' (Part 2) and also used in 'Captivity/Escape', let alone the mature orchard-like woodland which was the setting for 'Navy Romeo' (Part 2).

Unapproved School (Part 2)

This garden looks far too manicured to be an old bomb site. It looks like a public space such as a park but the availability of a functioning hose pipe and privacy considerations seem to rule that out. 

Before moving to Denbigh St, Basil lived briefly in 'Riverside', a road in rural Wraysbury. I have located the specific house (which at that time had a name, 'Halcyon', not a number) and it does have a big garden. The garden setting only appears in Royale's early pictures, so its conceivable Basil was working on his Royale project while he was living there, then moved back to London to start up the business. 

Doug Strohl by George Greenwood ca 1958

Recently I came across this photograph of Doug Strohl taken by George Greenwood who owned the publication 'Man's World'. It was taken in the grounds of Man's World headquarters at 'The Manor House' in Worcester Park, Surrey. The flowers and fence seen in the background have a passing resemblance to the garden seen in 'Unapproved School' just above, unfortunately I haven't found a better view of the fence, although Greenwood took lots of pictures at this spot. The brickwork is part of some steps which are right in front of the house, so it would be feasible to rig up a hosepipe. 

click to enlarge

This is the aerial view of The Manor House today (much altered at the rear according to its Heritage listing). You can see it's bounded by a large area of parkland and trees. Many of Greenwood's photos show models perched on fallen boughs with lawn and trees in the distance and may well have been taken here too. 

By itself this is flimsy evidence for Royale's garden images, but there was also a degree of connection between Greenwood and Royale. Doug Strohl in the picture above posed for Royale as well as Greenwood and they 'shared' other models too. More significantly, 'Man's World' (Greenwood's 'house' magazine) was the very first publication to print any of Royale's pictures, in December 1957. They continued to print them, often several images a month, right through to mid 1961 at least. I haven't found records after this, but this is suggestive of cordial relations between them. 

~

Other Outside Locations

UNAP1-18

Whilst it's almost certain that the garden images were not taken at Denbigh St, it is possible, that the house itself was used to photograph the last two, outdoor images in Part 1 of  'Unapproved School' which show (above and below) the two captives trying to escape by scaling outbuildings. 

The corner arrangement depicted above is typical of 19th century terraced housing in Britain, where an angle is formed between the main part of the house and an extension at the rear which typically housed a kitchen (see layout diagram above).  

  

 In the aerial photo you can see extensions like this clearly on all the Denbigh St houses and the place where this picture might have been taken, by the Kitchen's outside door. The extension was narrower than the rest of the building to allow for a rear window in the back, (breakfast) room, such as that seen on the right in the photo. The Georgian style of that window exactly matches the style of the Denbigh St. frontage (see top image). 

 

Notice that it also seems to be boarded up on the inside, so perhaps this was where Clavering's Studio was. The positioning of the door in the 'Whip Duel' photo matches that location in the diagram above.

UNAP1-19

Comparison of this picture with UNAP-18, above, shows it was not taken in the same place. The roof seems too low and the drainpipes are missing. The aerial picture (earlier) does seem to show that the rearward extension at 110 Denbigh St is only one story high* just like this building. However, the corrugated roof in this picture suggests it was an outbuilding rather than part of a house used as a home. Basil could afford to get his roof repaired! 

The gable end and church tower (?) seen in the distance don't seem to fit with the present day topography of the Denbigh St area either. Therefore, it seems unlikely that this picture was taken at Denbigh St and so the preceding one probably wasn't either. There is a church with a plain square tower next door to the Worcester Park building, but it's not obviously the one in this picture.

There's another suggestion for the location of these images in the comments at the foot of this post

Incidentally, if this was Basil Clavering's property the security precautions are formidable! That barbed wire seems to be part of the storyline for Part 2 of the storyette.

~

Interior Locations

*In the Denbigh St aerial picture, there's a small first floor extension sitting on top of the kitchen, which typically would house a toilet or bathroom, maybe it's the one we see in Navy Gash.

~

I am indebted to P.M., who carried out all the research into where Basil Clavering lived

Article originally published 13/07/2023

Don Avard - Biographical Notes (completed)

Don Avard by Royale (Detail)

  

Don Avard was half British, half Australian, brought up on his father's cattle ranch, down under. He had a career in the Royal Navy (for 6 years according to Barrington - see Ad below) and took up boxing while serving, winning the (RN) Far East Middleweight title and ending up as an instructor. 

He was one of several Royale models who represented Chatham Dockyard in the June 1957 Gun Race at the Royal Tournament in London. It's conceivable that this is how he met Basil Clavering. There's a video of the 1957 event on YouTube but, unfortunately it's not possible to identify the team members.

 

Don Avard in RN Uniform

  This is how Don would have dressed for the 'Gun Race'. There aren't any more images of him like this, but I believe he wore this kit in some wrestling duos for Royale (see his profile page)

 

This picture of Don in British Navy uniform appeared in an article about his background in 'Adonis' in May 1958 (more on this below). 

~ 

 John Barrington (a physique photographer and acquaintance of Basil Clavering) recalls how, in August 1957, he met a 'half naked' Don Avard while out walking with his wife and children on the banks of the Thames at Richmond and 'adopted' him for the day. He was thrilled with the young man's physique and credentials as a sporty, half-Australian, seaman. In his biography, 'Physique', (Source 101) he recalls how they arranged to meet up again for a photographic session at which point Barrington proposed an 'extra dimension' to their friendship, as he usually did with the men he photographed. 

 

Don Avard by John Barrington (Paignton)

Apparently Avard was reluctant, revealing he had other good friends who kept him in pocket money. Nevertheless, he did go before the camera and a photograph of him in a mock studious pose (above) duly appeared in the November issue of Barrington's own beefcake magazine, Man-ifique No 6 (Nov 1957).  

Ad offering Photos of Don Avard 
in Barrington's 'MAN-ifique' No 6

 Opposite the image was this ad, offering "unusual and exciting" prints of Don and describing him as a "natural", these were all euphemisms for nudity. 

~ 

It appears that one of Avard's other generous supporters might have included Basil Clavering, because his own pictures of Avard for Royale appeared almost simultaneously in December. It's possible that Barrington passed Don onto him, the two photographers had known each other for 5 years at that point, ever since collaborating on 'Under the Lash', and they often shared models. 

Remarkably, an almost identical pose of Don was later published in Man-ifique 9, but attributed to Royale, which makes you wonder just how much Barrington and Clavering collaborated in this case. The Royale sets featuring Yves Grangeat were almost certainly shot by Barrington.

Royale Studio Ad in Man's World (Dec '57)

 Clavering was equally enthusiastic about his young protégé, putting Don's image at the top of Royale's first advertisement in Man's World, Dec 1957, describing him as a "young boxer from the Royal Navy". Barrington featured one of the Royale pictures of him on the front page of his February 1958 issue of MAN-ifique (No 7). He also added Royale to his list of 'reputable photographers' in the same issue.  

 Don continued to be prominently featured in Royale's advertising with a dedicated ad in 'Tomorrow's Man' in April 1958, Royale added some 'storyettes' to his CV, but few details about them have survived. May 1958 was probably the height of his beefcake fame. He was awarded the accolade of a seven-page article in 'Adonis' magazine that talked about his background and interests, as if he were a pop star. That article is the source of most of the information about his background at the top of this article. It has all the hallmarks of being written by Basil Clavering, himself, whose Cinema Manager background gave him a flair for marketing.

 

Adonis (may '58) Article about Don Avard

A section of the Adonis article talked about Don's sporting interests, but in a more interesting section where we are told Don worked at Mount Pleasant Post Office. At the time this was well-known as a sorting office for the Royal Mail, its modern technology was often featured in mini-documentaries. It would have handled both Clavering and Barrington's mail outs. Don's background in the Royal Navy would have given him the necessary security clearance for such a job. It seems to imply he planned to settle in London.

 

Adonis (May '58) Article about Don Avard

The Adonis article goes on to show him relaxing 'at home', Noel Coward fashion, in a dressing gown. 'Home' appears to have been a sumptuous residence, luxuriously furnished, including extravagances like a grand piano and candelabras dotted around.

 It seems entirely plausible that this is Basil Clavering's own home in Denbigh St. Apart from the wealth and tastes on display, the double window seen in the background of the bottom image broadly tallies with the outside view of Clavering's house, assuming the sitting room was on the first floor and occupying the whole width of the building. 

 In fact, according to the 1958 Electoral Register, Don was indeed resident in Clavering's house in Denbigh St. This may have simply been an arrangement to enable him to get his job with the Post Office. However, it seems to have become more than that, an article in Tomorrow's Man in October 1959 stated that Don was now 'part of the (Royale) firm'. In what capacity is not known, but in April 1959, Barrington had removed Royale from his List of Reputable Photographers without explanation. He did, however, include pictures of Don in the same issue. 

After the initial launch, there doesn't seem to have been another Royale shoot and interest in him gradually petered out. Barrington continued to publish pictures of Don in the years that followed, but they appear to come from the same original shoot. In his model catalogue, he gushed about how good a friend Don was, the kind 'one can never tire of'. However, in 1962 Barrington had to report to his readers (in the Autumn issue of MAN-ifique) that Don was back in Australia. 

In the mid-70s Barrington was finally able to openly publish his nude photographs of Don Avard in 'Man to Man', Vol 1 No 1 (link pending). 

~ 

An interesting footnote to this story came in 1995 when an Australian tourist named Don Avard came upon the scene of a tragic accident on the M4 motorway. A coach carrying pensioners had struck some debris and careered off the carriageway resulting in the death of 10 of the passengers and injury to 20 others. Mr Avard told the press that he too had hit debris and had to avoid wooden pallets scattered on the road, believed to have been shed accidentally by a lorry. 

It was reported that Mr Avard was 59 and an Ex-Londoner who now lived in Adelaide, Australia. He was staying in Warminster, Wiltshire and heading towards Bath at the time of the accident. He was further described as a property developer who formerly lived in the Kings Cross area of London. 

I have no idea if this man was the Royale model of the same name, but the age he gave, 59, meant he would have been 21 in 1957, exactly the same age that Barrington quoted in his first advertisement (see above). Kings Cross isn't a terribly good fit with Pimlico, but Australia obviously is. 

The Warminster connection is intriguing, it's a UK Army garrison town, not far from Salisbury Plain, a major Army training area. It's an interesting town, but not on the tourist map. A place where someone might go to stay because they knew someone who lived there. It's a long way from the sea, not a Navy town, but Royal's model roster was full of military men of all three services of course. Don might easily have befriended one of them. 

If I was being mischievous, I might also observe that Brian Lamprill, who was also modelling for Royale in 1958, ended up in Australia too.

I guess we'll never know! 

Don Avard solo post COMPLETED

Don Avard for Royale Studio

 I have finished posting the results of Don Avard's solo shoot for Royale. With this model Clavering produced a remarkable set of innovative pictures that challenged the whole way beefcake had always been presented. It earned him accolades.

View Don Avard Solo

View Don Avard's Profile Page 

The Boxers posted at the Gallery

Royale Studio - The Boxers

 I have completed Bob Flynn's, Royale portfolio with the addition of 'The Boxers', his only 'storyette', to the Gallery.

View the Background, Index page for 'The Boxers'

View 'The Boxers' Gallery entry 

Bob Flynn by Vic White

Bob Flynn captured by Vic White

 I have now added to Bob Flynn's roster of images, a small set taken by the respected physique photographer of the 1950s and 60s, Vic White. This completes the available sets of his solo career, I will post his solitary, known storyette next, 'Boxers'.

View Bob Flynn by Vic White

 See Bob Flynn's Index Page for other sets that feature him.

Bob Flynn by Scott - NOW COMPLETE

Bob Flynn by Scott

 
Bob Flynn taken by Scott in the 1960's.

  in the Royale Studio Archive Gallery of photos.

Features Scott's trademark tight shorts.

Bob Flynn Index Page

Bob Flynn by Scott 

Bob Flynn added to the Gallery

Bob Flynn posing solo for Royale

Tough guy, Bob Flynn, posed for Royale Studio
in tight shorts and jeans

View Set BOF