Forest Hills Tennis Stadium Recognized in National Trust For Historic Preservation's Preservation Magazine

This is a Nov 1922 ad which appeared in MIT's Technology Review. Designed by public building architectural specialist Kenneth Murchison in 1923, it became the country's first permanent concrete tennis stadium. There's no denying its strong foundation in more ways than 1!

Centerfield! August 2010 photo by Patrick Lannan

The famed yet endangered Forest Hills Tennis Stadium is recognized in the National Trust For Historic Preservation's Preservation Magazine (May-June 2011 issue) as threatened. It is the hope of Rego-Forest Preservation Council that such exposure along with city, state, federal landmark status, and potentially an amended version of Transferable Development Rights (TDR), will yield funds for restoration and creative multi-reuse. Hopefully, exposure in this noteworthy publication will spark the interest of historically-sensitive visionaries, who will partner with the Stadium's owner, the West Side Tennis Club. Below is the excerpt from the magazine's Transitions section:

The greatest tennis players of the 20th century—Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, Rod Laver, Margaret Court, and Jimmy Connors among them—served, volleyed, and stroked backhands at this 14,000-seat stadium in the Forest Hills section of Queens, N.Y. After the U.S. Open moved to Flushing Meadows in 1977, the West Side Tennis Stadium hosted various professional tournaments but was eventually abandoned. The club that owns the badly deteriorated stadium discussed demolition with a developer interested in building condos. But in October, the club voted to retain the stadium and solicit ideas for reuse. About $12 million is needed just to repair the crumbling 1923 landmark.

Source: http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2011/may-june/transitions.html

1968 US Open Tennis Championships press kit featuring Arthur Ashe

Golden glory awaits TLC! Photo by Michael Perlman, Sept 2010

Frank Sinatra at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, July 15, 1977

1937 news photo

Judy Garland at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium on July 17, 1965 at the annual Forest Hills Music Festivals, Courtesy of Robert Rauschenbach