Building record 0689301000 - Covered Tennis Court, Cliveden Road

In November 2001, in advance of redevelopment plans for the site detailed survey of the complex's history and surviving buildings was carried out. The survey noted that four different types of hospital have occupied the site. The first, based in the covered tennis court, was offered to the Government by Waldorf and Nancy Astor the owners of Clivedon estate in August 1914. The tennis court had been built in the late 19th century on former common land. Plans were drawn up for accommodation for 100 beds, but in November 1914 Charles Hodgett, London Commissioner of the Canadian Red Cross Society, became involved and plans were expanded. The official opening was on 12 February 1915 with some 1000 beds and in March the hospital received its first patients from overseas. In October 1939, plans were once again put in place to re-use the site - this time without utilising the Tennis Court which was to be left for recreational purposes (B1).
Listed grade II. Covered tennis court. C1900, designer unknown. Grey and red brick exterior, partly glazed roof. Classical exterior, with a triple-arched ground floor to the main gabled west-facing end, the arched openings now in-filled with boarding; above is a large window with wrought iron balcony, carried on a stone ledge, the tall window opening being set within a rusticated surround with a segmental arch above. Recessed side bays. To the south side is an end pavilion with arched ground floor entrances and bull's-eye windows to the upper floor. The other sides have had lower ancillary structures built up against them, and these are not regarded as possessing special interest. INTERIOR: A large tennis court, spanned with an open bowstring-trussed roof. Lesser rooms run around the sides. HISTORY: located about half a mile to the south-east of the house, this building formed a notable addition to the amenities of the Cliveden estate during the Astor years, and is listed as a notable building for sport of its day. During the First World War it was used as a Canadian military hospital, and was subsequently joined to a large hospital complex to the south, commenced in 1915 to the designs of Major Charles Skipper (B7).