Racquet & Tennis Club of New York (New York City, New York) | tennis court(s), NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, sports club, squash court

 tennis court(s), NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, sports club, squash court

5-story Italian Renaissance club building completed in 1918. Designed by McKim, Mead & White with structural elements by Guastavino Fireproof Tile Co., the building has a rusticated granite base, pierced by 11 large arched openings. Those flanking the club entrance open onto commercial facilities, an innovative feature at the time of construction. The voussoirs of these arches create a pointed profile. The main entrance is deeply recessed in the central arch, with a rounded, blue canvas canopy extending out onto the sidewalk. The arches on either side of the middle arch have stone infill with small windows in full surrounds with bracketed sills and cornices; smaller, square windows fill the space above, just below the tops of the arches. The other bays have glass-and-metal infill.

The north and south facades are five bays wide, where three smaller, rectangular windows are framed by additional arches at the end bays. The end arches in these walls provide access to the vaulted driveway running through the building at ground floor level. A dentiled cornice caps the ground floor.

Stone quoins mark the corners of the building above the ground floor, contrasting with the smooth beige brick of the upper walls. As is appropriate for the floor housing the main rooms--lounges, dining room, library--of the club, the second floor is treated as a piano nobile. Full-length windows with rusticated stone enframements and cornices light the principal rooms at the four northern and southern bays. A distinctive feature is the 2-story central loggia recessed behind three arched openings. The piers supporting the arches have Corinthian capitals incorporating racquets into the foliation--a witty allusion to the purpose of the club--and the club shield is placed above the center arch. French doors provide access to the loggia from the inside hall lounge. Small, simply enframed windows mark the 3rd floor, whereas within the loggia, the 3rd floor has three arched fanlight windows at the rear wall. A dentiled string course separates the 3rd and 4th floors, with a flagpole projecting from the stone shield above the center arch of the loggia, crossing the string course.

The major courts for racquets, tennis, and squash are located on the upper floors, and their location is indicated on the exterior by the placement of large blind arches with rusticated enframements at the 4th floor. The middle five of these have small window openings. The terra-cotta frieze at the 5th floor, which is pierced by unobtrusive small windows, incorporates racquets into the pattern, another allusion to the club's purpose. A balustraded roof parapet above a decorative cornice provides a fitting and appropriately scaled termination to the design.

On the south facade, the upper floors follow the design on the main facade on the avenue, but with no openings at the 4th floor or the 5th-floor frieze. The north facade on 53rd Street also has no openings in the frieze, and only two small, stacked windows at the 4th floor's westernmost bay. The 2nd floor has smaller windows in the stone enframements of the middle bay and 2nd-from-east bay, and the enframement of the east bay is flanked by two additional windows. The 3rd floor has three windows in the center, with no enframements, a smaller square window to the left, and three horizontal openings at the right, two of which have been bricked in. All of these have brick lintels.

Inside are two tennis courts, four international squash courts, one North American doubles squash court, and one racquets court. Unlike many other private clubs that once catered exclusively to men and now admit women, the Racquet and Tennis has held fast to its men-only membership policy. The club, first organized in 1875 as the Racquet Court Club, occupied in a building at 55 West 26th Street. From its beginnings the club was considered to be one of the wealthiest and most exclusive of New York' s social and athletic organizations.

The ground floor is occupied by a Chase Bank branch at the south end, and formerly by Purepoint Financial at the north end.

www.rtcny.org/
s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1000.pdf
daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/08/1918-park-avenue...
hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015006777018?urlappend=%3Bseq...
digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c8e76340-1404-0136-e0...