Shingles and tennis courts: the Newport Casino occupies 180–200 Bellevue Avenue in Newport. Built between 1879 and 1881 by New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett, Jr., this Shingle Style athletic complex was designed by the newly formed firm of McKim, Mead & White. It was the firm’s first major commission and helped establish their national reputation.
Bennett paid $60,000 in August 1879. Conceived as a social club, the Casino originally gathered an array of leisure pursuits under one roof: courts for both lawn tennis and court tennis; facilities for 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 complex was the site of the earliest American lawn tennis championships and has been the site of the International Tennis Hall of Fame since 1954. Recognized for its importance, the Casino was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987. Picture the Shingle-style building, the courts that hosted those early championships, and the sweep of Bellevue Avenue beside you.