Royal County Of Berks Real Tennis Club

The Royal County of Berks Real Tennis Club is a real tennis court dating from 1889, designed by Joseph Bickley for Samuel Heilbut. It is located in Holyport, off Holyport Street. The building is constructed of brick with rendered and stone dressings, featuring a low-pitched hipped steel-frame roof covered in slate, with a continuous lantern light over the main tennis court area. The plan comprises seven bays dedicated to the tennis court and a lower section to the southeast, housing a reception area, bar and changing rooms. The building is one and half storeys high, with three chimneys near the corners, each featuring offset pedimented heads and decorative clay pots.

The tennis court section has a deep implied plinth and a continuous external balcony supported by iron brackets. There’s curtain glazing between shallow pilasters with moulded stair capitals, topped by a parapet with moulded stone coping and urns. The central bay on the southwest front contains a clock within an aedicule frame, topped by a broken pediment and moulded base set on large curved brackets. This projection breaks through the parapet. A former entrance on the southwest front features a pair of half-glazed and panelled doors within an ashlar surround, with a semi-circular arched head displaying the date 1899 and crossed tennis rackets in the spandrel. Above this is a sash window with a moulded architrave and reeded head, topped by a moulded pediment. To the right is a recessed three-bay blind arcade with semi-circular moulded heads between pilasters, and a parapet with molded coping and urns. A late 20th-century extension in a similar style provides the current entrance on the northeast front.

Inside, the reception area contains a fireplace in the Adam style, featuring festoons, floral decoration, a mirror above a moulded mantel, alongside a shelf unit and pedimented top. A 19th-century cast-iron fireplace with a moulded wooden surround and plain tile inset is found in a first-floor dressing room. Joseph Bickley was known for his patent method of constructing the wall and floor finishes for real tennis and rackets' courts.