Athletic complex and recreation center built in 1881, it became a center of Newport's social life during the Gilded Age through the 1920s

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Overview

The Newport Casino is an athletic complex and recreation center located in Newport, Rhode Island 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. Built as a social club, it included courts for both lawn tennis and court tennis, facilities for other games, such as squash and lawn bowling, club rooms for reading, socializing, card-playing, and billiards, 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 in 1970, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The complex, which was the site of the earliest American lawn tennis championships, now houses the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The Newport Casino also hosted the first Newport Jazz Festival in 1954.

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 Building (The National Court Tennis Club)
• Casino Theatre – restored and managed by Salve Regina University Department of Performing Arts
• Indoor tennis courts (Newport Casino Indoor Racquet Club)
• Various grass tennis courts (Newport Casino Lawn Tennis Club)

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 lawn tennis; 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 play on Newport's grass courts.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Newport Casino", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0