Restoration

When the court was built in 1905, a new type of concrete was used which unfortunately did not last and began deteriorating at such an alarming rate that in the early 1990s the club was forced to embark on raising £100,000 to pay for the necessary repairs. Thanks to the generosity of members, friends of the court and the considerable number of visiting players who regard the court as one of the best playing surfaces in the world, the work was completed and paid for by 1998, a considerable achievement. The building works were overseen by club member and structural engineer Frank Haywood and committee members Julian Rawstorne and David Sutton. The monumental fund raising effort was overseen by Richard Greaves.

Frank Haywood in his structural report of 1993 commented that "When this building was constructed in 1904-5, the use of reinforced, ordinary Portland cement concrete as a structural material was in its infancy, and little was known about the need for sufficient concrete cover to any reinforcement to prevent oxidation of the steel, which would cause it to expand and spall concrete away. Little was also known about the long term effects of using unreinforced concrete in a cantilevered situation, such as the cornices that are evident on this building, and also the long term effect of concrete that was moulded into very slender, intricate sections, such as the large decorative urns on the western elevation. This lack of knowledge is now only too evident."

In 2002, £3000 was raised for repairs to the floor. For many years, water ingress caused the floor's large slabs of concrete to rise, thus causing ridges. In addition, the polished top skim of the floor surface is flaking away in a number of areas. The Committee has decided to patch areas for as long as possible until something more serious is required.

Donations