Liverpool Racquet Club was a gentlemen's club

Gentlemen's club

A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...

 in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

, England. It was founded in 1874 to provide facilities for gentlemen to play real tennis

Real tennis

Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended...

 and other racquet

Racquet

A racquet or racket is a sports implement consisting of a handled frame with an open hoop across which a network of cord is stretched tightly. It is used for striking a ball in such games as squash, tennis, racquetball, and badminton...

 games. They selected a site in Upper Parliament Street for their building, which opened in 1877. Originally it provided two racquet courts, and an American bowling alley. Soon after this, a new dining room and a billiards room were added. In 1894 further alterations were made, including the conversion of the bowling alley into two fives

Fives

Fives is a British sport believed to derive from the same origins as many racquet sports. In fives, a ball is propelled against the walls of a special court using gloved or bare hands as though they were a racquet.-Background:...

 courts, one for Eton Fives and the other for Rugby Fives. By 1900 the Rugby fives court was being used as a squash

Squash (sport)

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

 court. In 1913 a covered lawn tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 court was added. By 1936 all the courts were being used for squash. Residential accommodation was added at that time. The building was damaged during the Second World War, during which time the Club gave hospitality to officers of the Royal Navy. On 6 July 1981 the Club building was destroyed in the Toxteth riots. Following this, the Club bought the lease of Hargreaves Building

Hargreaves Building

Hargreaves Building is a former bank in Chapel Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It originated as the headquarters of the Brown Shipley Bank, continued as offices when the bank moved to London, was converted for use by the Liverpool Racquet Club after the Toxteth riots, and later became a...

in Chapel Street, and converted it for their purposes. This was sold in 2001, and the building became the Racquet Club Hotel.