Description

Menzies and Cockburn, 1902. Single storey and basement, 3-bay, square-plan pavilion, facing tennis courts, timber veranda to N (principal) elevation. Red brick in Scottish bond; ashlar lintels and cills. Overhanging eaves with decorative timber fretwork and timber boarding to soffit.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: N (principal) elevation with 5-step flight rising to veranda; plain timber balustrade linking chamfered square columns and basket arches supporting eaves; set back face with 2-leaf panelled timber door and rectangular fanlight to centre, flanked by pair of windows forming continuous glazing, over vertically boarded timber panel and all set in moulded timber frames. Stone steps to W leading to basement level. S (rear) elevation with door to right and blocked bipartite window to left at basement. W elevation with blocked openings at basement.

Swept roof, clay tiles; ridge tiles and finials. Original rainwater goods. Stack to S pitch.

INTERIOR: (seen 2013). Timber boarded walls and ceiling with moulded timber cornice and decorative metal attic hatch. Tiled and cast iron fire surround with dentilled overmantel. Basement refitted in late 20th century.

Statement of Interest

Largely unaltered, well-detailed example of an early 20th century small-scale sports pavilion. The building has good architectural detailing such as the decorative fretwork and veranda. Internally the building retains many original fixtures and fittings. The design utilises the change in level of the site. A retaining wall has been constructed to the north elevation at the basement level, so that from the tennis courts and the public realm it has the appearance of a single storey pavilion. In the late 20th century some alterations were undertaken to the building, particularly to the basement.

Henderland Road Family Tennis Club is situated in West Murrayfield, a residential suburb of Edinburgh which was laid out for villa and terrace development from the mid 19th century. The pavilion was constructed in 1902 as a bowling pavilion. In the interwar period the bowling green was replaced by tennis courts, which are evident on 1933 Ordnance Survey Map. Henderland Road Family Tennis Club is so called as it was established as a club for which family members were encouraged to play together rather than a competitive club, and although the club now takes part in competitions it still maintains its family ethos.

Modern lawn tennis was established in 1874 by Major Walter Wingfield who developed a new style of the game and a new type of court in order to speed up play. The Wingfield version came to Scotland when James Pattern tested the new game outside at the Grange Cricket Ground in Edinburgh around 1874 and it soon became the version which was preferred by players.

The architect, Duncan Menzies, took Alexander W Cockburn into partnership in or about 1901 and operated until Menzies death in 1910 (although Cockburn retained his name in his later architectural practice). Little is known about the practice, except villas form the principal work of both architects.

Listed as part of the sporting buildings thematic study (2012-13).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77782434

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)