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Merion Cricket Club

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Merion Cricket Club
The "Main House," of brick and stone, replaced a wooden clubhouse that was destroyed by fire in September 1896.
StandortMontgomery Avenue & Grays Lane, Haverford, Pennsylvania
Built1897
ArchitectFurness, Evans & Co.
Architectural styleLate Victorian/Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.87000759[1]
Added to NRHPFebruary 27, 1987

Merion Cricket Club is a private club in Haverford, Pennsylvania, founded in 1865. The current clubhouse is its sixth, the last four having been designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and his partner, Allen Evans (a Club founder).

History

The club was founded in October 1865, and its first meeting held December 16, 1865. Its first cricket match was held in Wynnewood, PA, May 19, 1866. From 1873 to 1892, the club occupied grounds in Ardmore, PA, before moving to its present beautiful grounds in Haverford. The first tennis match was held in 1881; the first golf course was laid out in 1896, with other courses in 1912 and 1914.[3]

Facilities

The fourth clubhouse (1892), backing onto Montgomery Avenue, was destroyed by fire in January 1896.

The first clubhouse (1865-73) was an existing house in Wynnewood, PA, on land owned by Col. Owen Jones. The second (1873-80) was an industrial building in Ardmore, PA, about a mile southeast of the current grounds. The third (1880-92), by Furness & Evans, on Cricket Avenue in Ardmore, was destroyed by fire in 1892. The fourth (1892-96), at the present location, although backing onto Montgomery Avenue, was destroyed by fire in January 1896. The fifth (1896), backing onto Grays Lane, was destroyed by fire before its completion. The sixth (and present) clubhouse was built to the same plan as the fifth, but in stone and brick. Alexander Cassatt, a vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad (later PRR president), paid for the fireproof clubhouse.[4]

On the club grounds there are indoor and outdoor tennis courts, paddle tennis courts, squash courts, a bowling alley, dining facilities and a ballroom. Seasonally, the club has Croquet and cricket events also. Many famous tennis players have visited the club, including Arthur Ashe and Bjorn Borg[citation needed].

Merion Golf Club

In 1896 members of the Merion Cricket Club founded the Merion Golf Club which has hosted the United States Open Championship five times. In 1941, this became a separate club.

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23.
  2. ^ "Merion Cricket Club". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
  3. ^ Ferree, Barr (1916). Yearbook of the Pennsylvania Society. New York: The Pennsylvania Society. p. 174.
  4. ^ Richard Jones, ed., The First 300: The Amazing and Rich History of Lower Merion (Lower Merion Historical Society, 2000), pp. 222-23.

See also

Preceded by Davis Cup
Final Venue
1939 		Succeeded by
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