A crumbling sports pavilion in Scarborough is at risk of disappearing forever.
That is why the Bramcote Tennis Pavilion has been named on the Victorian Society’s Top Ten Endangered Buildings list.
The list was launched today (Wednesday) by Griff Rhys Jones, the society’s president.
Bramcote Tennis Pavilion location
This Arts and Crafts veranda-style bungalow was once a lawn tennis pavilion, among the earliest structures for the modern sport internationally.
Dating back to the sport’s inception in the 1860s and 1870s, it holds significance in Scarborough’s tennis history which included championship-level competitions.
Griff Rhys Jones said: “I am reeling. How can we not find a proper new use for this elegant testament to the history of tennis?
“Like all good old buildings, it is an education in itself. It has a story. It teaches continuity. Local achievement. And fun history.
“And the very act of caring about its preservation should be an exemplary teaching tool. Neglect and indifference set a hugely bad example to young people.”
James Hughes, director of the Victorian Society, said: “Many endangered buildings present issues that are more or less intractable. Often the scale of a building – and, correspondingly, of the investment required to save it – is such as to represent an insurmountable challenge.
“Yet in the case of the Bramcote Tennis Pavilion we have a building that is by its very nature diminutive. While this does not mean that rescuing the structure should be a simple matter, it should nonetheless make it rather easier.
“And given its enormous importance it is the very least it deserves.”
The full Top Ten list can be read here and includes a requisitioned school where author Vera Brittain nursed during WWI, the last of one of the world’s first purpose-built amusement parks, a banqueting hall for the workers, one of the first tennis pavilions in the world, and a building where the first £1m cheque was signed.