Racquet and Tennis Club

1916

Architects: William S. Richardson

Address: 370 Park Avenue, Manhattan

I’ve known about the Racquet and Tennis Club for at least two decades, when my wife and I went there for some sort of fundraiser back in 1998 or 1999. As an ardent modernist, my eye had always been focused on what was directly acrooss the street (Mies’ Seagram Building), but stepping into the rich detailed interior was only equaled by how elegantly the club was (and continues to be) lit on the outside—extremely helpful to a night photographer. The club remains as anachronistic as they come—men only, no website, and filled with squash, “racquets,” and “court tennis” courts—no standard “lawn” tennis courts, of course. Too modern.