The Newport Casino is an athletic complex and recreation center located at 180-200 Bellevue Avenue, Newport,

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

in the Bellevue Avenue/Casino Historic District. Built in 1879–1881 by '' New York Herald'' publisher James Gordon Bennett, Jr., it was designed in the Shingle style by the newly formed firm of McKim, Mead & White. The Newport Casino was the firm's first major commission and helped to establish the firm's national reputation. Built as a social club, it included courts for both

lawn tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

and court tennis, facilities for other games, such as

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

and

lawn bowling Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

, club rooms for reading, socializing, card-playing, and

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions ...

, shops, and a convertible theater and ballroom. It became a center of Newport's social life during the Gilded Age through the 1920s. The casino was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1970, and was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1987. The complex, which was the site of the earliest American lawn tennis championships, now houses the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...

. The Newport Casino also hosted the first

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hir ...

in 1954.

1879 – 1900

James Gordon Bennett, Jr. was a summer resident of Newport and in August 1879 paid $60,000 to acquire the Sidney Brooks estate "Stone Villa" (demolished in 1957, the Bellevue Gardens shopping complex currently stands in its place). Legend claims that Bennett placed a bet with his guest and polo partner British Cavalry Officer, Captain Henry Augustus "Sugar" Candy that Candy would not ride his horse up onto the front porch of Newport's most exclusive men's club – The Newport Reading Room. Candy won the bet, but the Reading Room members were not amused and revoked guest privileges for the men causing Bennett to build his own social club. The ''Newport Mercury'' does not confirm the polo-pony exploits by Bennett and Captain Candy, but rather states Candy was dismissed from the Newport Reading Room "for a clear violation of the rules of that institution." Nonetheless, Bennett had already been in discussions with Charles McKim in 1879 about converting his summer home Stone Villa into a social club. However, he then decided to acquire the vacant lot across the street and commission McKim and his partners, William Mead and

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect. He was also a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms. He designed many houses for the rich, in addition ...

to bring to life a facility that would allow for both private and public areas. The blueprints for the Newport Casino were drawn up by the end of 1879. The construction was overseen by local contractor Nathan Barker. Ground was broken for the construction on January 8, 1880. With an estimated construction crew of 200-300 laborers, the Newport Casino opened to its first patrons in July 1880, and the general public got their first view in August 1880. Charles McKim oversaw the main design of the physical building. William Mead's role was as engineer and financial organizer. Stanford White was responsible for the design of the interior spaces, including furniture, as well as the Casino Theatre. The completed main building consisted of a three-story clubhouse; the ground floor had open-air porches and Bellevue Avenue facing storefronts, the second floor housed the billiards room, club and reading rooms, and lodgings, while the third floor contained additional lodging rooms and attic spaces. At the rear of the property is a two-story porch that connects the Court Tennis building and the Casino Theatre building. Taking many elements and cues from the Japanese Pavilion at the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia, McKim, Mead & White provided for a plan that was both secluded and open. A theatre located at the rear of the property (extant) was completed in 1881. Originally, its 500 seats were removable for dancing and the building was the scene of many social occasions for fashionable Summer visitors in the Gilded Age. One such attendee and early performer who lectured at the theatre in 1882 was Oscar Wilde. The United States Lawn Tennis Association held their first championships at the Casino in 1881, an event that would continue through 1914. By this time, tennis was firmly entrenched as the key attraction at the Casino.

1900 – 1954

The first half of the 20th century was unkind to the Newport Casino. The Gilded age drew to a close with the onset of the Depression, and the Newport fell by the wayside as a summer resort for the wealthy and powerful. The Casino struggled financially as a social club right from the start, and by the 1950s the Casino was in sad shape. Like many of the mansions, there was the very real possibility that it would be demolished to make way for more modern retail space. Candy and Jimmy Van Alen took over operating the club, and by 1954 had established the

in the Newport Casino. The combination of prominent headliners at the tennis matches and the museum allowed the building to be saved. It stands today as one of the finest examples of Victorian Shingle Style architecture in the world. The buildings are generally well preserved, and the Casino Theatre which was in a state of disrepair was restored in 2010 and is currently leased to Salve Regina University. The theater occasionally still shows films, mostly during the

Newport International Film Festival Newport International Film Festival was an annual film festival in Newport, Rhode Island, established in 1998. The Newport Film Festival was generally held the first week in June and featured various international films at several local cinemas. ...

or charity events.

1955 – Present

The complex of buildings has undergone tremendous restoration during the modern era. At the rear of the property is a two-story porch that connects the Court Tennis Building and the Casino Theatre, both original to the Newport Casino complex built in 1880. The Court Tennis building was restored in 1980 and the National Tennis Club was formed to use and preserve this game, from which the modern game of tennis evolved. The Casino Theatre, which had long been used primarily for storage, was restored in partnership with nearby Salve Regina University in 2010 to house their theater program during the school year and to be used for a variety of films, lectures, and other programming during the summer months. One important change in the Theater renovation is that the fixed one-level seating which had been installed in the early 1920s (to replace the removable seating of the original design) was replaced with graded permanent seating. During the renovation the fixed seating was removed and restored by the same Michigan company that originally made the seats in the 1920s, and even retained the top-hat storage underneath each chair. In 2010 the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Salve Regina University's restoration project of the Casino Theatre was recognized by Preserve Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission with the Rhody Award for Historic Preservation. The Hall of Fame Museum's exhibition galleries which exist on the second floor of the main Newport Casino building have been created in a series of renovations, first in the 1970s, then in the 1990s, and most recently in 2014–2015. In the 1990s, the third floor of the main building was renovated into a suitable repository for the storage and study of pieces in the Tennis Hall of Fame artifact, library, and archival collections. The most recent renovation exposed many original McKim, Mead & White fireplaces that had long been hidden behind sheet-rock walls. Recently several large construction projects have helped reshape the campus. In 2014, a steel indoor tennis building and gas station were demolished and a 19th-century cottage was relocated to create space for a large new structure designed in the Shingle Style by Robert A.M. Stern to house three new indoor courts, a gymnasium, an enlarged pro shop and Hall of Fame office. Three new outdoor courts are enclosed by an inflatable bubble roof to double the number of year-round courts available on the campus. The stadium court and stands also underwent renovation on 2016 to replace old bleacher seating located on the South end of the courts with new individual seating modeled on the seating at Wimbledon. This renovation also modified the West Stands, which had originally been built as part of the coaching and riding ring of the original complex, which was converted into the showcase Stadium Court in the 1970s.

Buildings

The complex includes: * The Casino (shops, a restaurant, offices, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame Museum) * Horseshoe Piazza and Court * Bill Talbert Stadium * Court Tennis Buildin
(The National Court Tennis Club)
* Casino Theatre – restored and managed by Salve Regina University Department of Performing Arts * Indoor tennis court
(Newport Casino Indoor Racquet Club)
* Various grass

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

(Newport Casino Lawn Tennis Club)

Sports

The Newport Casino was never a public gambling establishment. Originally, "

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

" meant a small villa built for pleasure. During the 19th century, the term casino came to include other buildings where social activities took place. In its heyday during the Gilded Age, the Newport Casino offered a wide array of social diversions to the summer colony including archery, billiards, bowling, concerts, dancing, dining, horse shows, lawn bowling, reading, lawn tennis, tea parties, and theatricals. It was best known as the home of American

; the Casino hosted the 1881–1914 National Championships, later called the U.S. Open. Between 1915 and 1967 it hosted the Newport Casino Invitational men's tennis tournament. Today, there is still an active grass-court tennis club, as well as an indoor tennis club. The Newport Casino Croquet Club offers championship

croquet Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Its international governing body is the W ...

play on Newport's grass courts. The Court Tennis Building, housing the National Tennis Club, is part of the original complex, and was constructed in 1881. The structure lost its roof to a fire during the 1940s but was restored to functionality with a large-scale renovation in 1980, and remains one of the most active courts of its type in the United States.

Gallery

File:Copy of 3BellevueFront1880.jpg, Newport Casino original façade, 1880 File:Newport-casino-1.jpg, Newport Casino, Bellevue Ave. façade, 1970 File:Newport-casino-2.jpg, Newport Casino, Horseshoe Court, 1970 File:International Tennis Hall of Fame (51488824300).jpg, Bellevue Avenue façade File:ITHF Grounds and Newport Casino building.jpg, Horseshoe Courtyard

References

External links

* *Description of th
Casino Theatre
*Official site of th
International Tennis Hall of Fame
{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in Newport, Rhode Island National Historic Landmarks in Rhode Island Tennis venues in Rhode Island Sports venues in Rhode Island US Open (tennis) McKim, Mead & White buildings Commercial buildings completed in 1880 Landmarks in Rhode Island Shingle Style architecture in Rhode Island Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Tourist attractions in Newport, Rhode Island Historic American Buildings Survey in Rhode Island Casinos completed in the 19th century 1880 establishments in Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Newport, Rhode Island Casinos in Rhode Island Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Rhode Island