The Racquet Club of Philadelphia (RCOP) is a private social club and athletic club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has facilities for squash, real tennis, and racquets.
Established in 1889, the club started its life in a modest facility at 923 Walnut Street. Under the leadership of George D. Widener, the current 16th Street Clubhouse was built by noted architect Horace Trumbauer. Historian Nathaniel Burt described the new 1907 Clubhouse as "by far the best appointed...of all Philadelphia clubs." The clubhouse is one of the first reinforced concrete structures designed in Philadelphia, and also includes the world's first above grade swimming pool, designed by the noted bridge builders Roebling Construction Company. The building's red-brick, Georgian design, is evocative of historic Philadelphia, and the Clubhouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The club was the site of the invention of squash doubles by Frederich C. Tompkins. The new building had a space that was too large for a standard squash court but too small for further locker facilities and Tomkins recommended that it be used for squash doubles.
The Racquet Club's athletic facilities include 3 international squash singles courts, 1 squash doubles court, a real tennis court, a racquets court, and a fitness facility. The club also has overnight rooms for the use of members and sponsored guests, as well as a bar and serves lunch daily. The club is open to members 365 days a year. Located on 16th Street between Walnut and Locust, it is in the heart of Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square area.
The club has hosted several international real tennis and racquets championships. It was once home to multiple national amateur U.S. champion Morris Clothier and national and world champion Jay Gould II.
The U.S. Squash Hall of Fame was briefly at the club until moving to Yale University.
Famous quotes containing the words club and/or philadelphia:
“In another year I’ll have enough money saved. Then I’m gonna go back to my hometown in Oregon and I’m gonna build a house for my mother and myself. And join the country club and take up golf. And I’ll meet the proper man with the proper position. And I’ll make a proper wife who can run a proper home and raise proper children. And I’ll be happy, because when you’re proper, you’re safe.”
—Daniel Taradash (b. 1913)
“I’d like to see Paris before I die. Philadelphia will do.”
—Mae West, U.S. screenwriter, W.C. Fields, and Edward Cline. Cuthbert Twillie (W.C. Fields)