Dublin Corporation has requested further information from the Office of Public Works on its plans to convert Ireland's only surviving "real tennis" court into a 320-seat recital hall, following an international campaign to save it.
The proposal, which involves making extensive changes to the existing building in Earlsfort Terrace, has been made by the OPW's architectural service as part of its long-term plan to turn the National Concert Hall in Earlsfort Terrace into a national conservatoire.
Tennis, however, has got in the way. Real tennis - as Brig A.D. Myrtle of the London-based Tennis and Rackets Association pointed out - is the ancient forerunner of "the comparatively modern game of lawn tennis" and dates back to 1740.
The oldest of all court games, it is undergoing a major revival, he said, in a letter to the corporation. "It would be a sad day indeed if, at a time when real tennis was growing, the court in Dublin was lost to the game forever."
Mr Charles Johnstone, president of the United States Court Tennis Association, also wrote expressing the "strong and unified objection and opposition" of its governors and members to the OPW's plan to turn the tennis court into a recital hall. "The great court in Dublin is a historic court both because of its magnificent architectural design and because of its place in the history of the game, having once hosted a court tennis world championship match," he said.
The real tennis court has been in disuse since it was handed over to the State by the First Earl of Iveagh in 1939, as part of the Guinness bequest, which included Iveagh House - later, headquarters of the Department of Foreign affairs - and Iveagh Gardens.
In a letter to the then Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera - which is now in the National Archives - Lord Iveagh wrote: "I am, of course, loath to think of the tennis court being destroyed as I think it is unique in its way and might be appreciated by players in Dublin".
However, subsequent efforts by the late Sir Basil Goulding and others to secure its future as a venue for the "historic and peculiar game" of real tennis were rebuffed by the OPW, which felt it would be "undesirable" to enter into such a commitment.
The building, with its black Galway limestone panelled walls - designed to make it easier for players to spot the speeding white tennis ball - was subsequently converted into a gymnasium by UCD and, later, into an engineering laboratory and stores.
Mr Ted Neville, of Cairde na Leadoige (Friends of Tennis), said there was "significant interest" among devotees of the sport worldwide in restoring the court and his group now intended to put forward "viable proposals" to realise this objective.
In his letter to Dublin Corporation, Mr Neville said the Cairde had not been informed by the OPW of its plan to turn the building into a recital hall, even though it would result in "the loss of a genuinely unique facility for the playing of this ancient sport".
He noted that the real tennis court in Earlsfort Terrace was one of some 30 such courts in the world. However, none of the others in cities like London, Paris, New York and Sydney, had been "so uniquely and expensively endowed" with black limestone panelling.
Letters of objection were also received from the Paris-based Comite Francais de Jeu de Court (in French, with an offer to translate "if required"), the Australian royal Tennis Association, An Taisce, Senator David Norris and the Dublin International Sports Council.
Mr Michael Bolton, founder and vice-chairman of Real Tennis Ireland, offered its support for the restoration of the building. He said fund-raising efforts were taking place in Britain, Australia and the US, through a web site on the Internet: www.real-tennis.com.
The campaign has clearly worked. In its further information request yesterday, Dublin Corporation is seeking a full survey of the building, an estimate of the cost of restoring it to its original use as a tennis court and a second opinion from the Heritage Service.
