The building was constructed around 1860 by the Nawab of Awadh, who intended it to be a centre of the royalty's literary life in the region.[1][3] According to a local historian, the name derived from "rifa" or "happiness" and "aam" or "common", and suggested that the club offered happiness to the common man.[4][5] The club was open to everybody, in contrast to European clubs which did not allow Indians to apply.[5] In subsequent years it became what The Economist described as "an important nationalist hangout".[6] It was one of the centres of Indian nationalism and other intellectual activity, frequented by individuals such as Munshi Premchand and Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan.[2] In the 1900s it hosted meetings of the All-India Muslim League.[1] The club hosted a meeting of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League which led to the Lucknow Pact of 1916, which was also signed on the premises.[3][2]Mahatma Gandhi visited the building to give a speech on Hindu-Muslim unity on 15 October 1920[2][7][8] and on 26 April 1922 Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel made speeches at the club encouraging local people to intensify the Swadeshi movement.[9] The Progressive Writers Movement was created on 10 April 1936.[1]
The building has not been well maintained in the decades since; one wing has become a hospital, another has been abandoned, and the courtyard is a rubbish dump.[6][1][3] The poor state of the building has led to local activism trying to get it recognized and protected as a heritage landmark by the government.[2][1][6][5]
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