Zeshan Rashid, Daniel Eure, Sean Vroom

Professor Gibson

LBST 2301-202

7 September, 2018

LBST 2301 WRITING ASSIGNMENT 2: HABANA VEDADO TENNIS CLUB

As a group we collectively looked and analyzed the postcard and split up roles from

there. Zeshan is the recorder and will type up the final version of the paper as well as do a small

amount of research. Daniel will do research and learn more about the building, the establishment,

and what it was used for. Sean will find the history and look for the producer of the postcard and

find information on the publisher. Next we put down our research in bullet points and organized

it accordingly. Finally the final paper was constructed and reviewed by everyone before the final

version is turned in.

The Habana Tennis club opened its doors in the year 1902. At the time, the primary focus

of the club was for tennis. The building was designed by architect Ricardo Franklin. Over the

next several years, it began to be used for other sports and activities such as baseball. The

building of the Habana Tennis club became the new home of many amature leagues in the area.

The baseball team particularly grew and in the year 1914 they won the National League of

Amateur Baseball in Cuba.

When the club first opened in 1902 it was originally called the ​Havana Biltmore Yacht &

Country Club. Rene Berndes Boch as the first official president of the club. It had nearly thirty

staff members when it opened. In the year 1906 Porfirio Franca took over as president of the
club. Power was then exchanged once again in the 1942 when Jose Gomez Mena took over until

the year 1955. Past the 1950s, the club, building, and facilities were not actively used often.

Currently today there is works on making the building into a baseball museum, according to the

website article on “The Resurrection of the Vedado Tennis Club”, written in 2015.

When the club was in use however, it was heavily used and the facilities were a large part

of the club itself. The club mostly revolved around sports but also was a place for socializing and

enjoying company of others. Directly in front of the club, as seen in the postcard, there were four

tennis courts to play tennis and was the focal point of the club. But the club had facilities for

baseball, american football, soccer, and canoeing outside the club but on its campus. Inside they

had rooms for different uses including a couple of dance halls and a ballroom and held dances

rather regularly. Downstairs they had bowling, boxing, and billiards. Along with all those sports

and recreation they had a library, a kitchen, and other various places to hang out like the terraces

on each side of the the building.

While sports was a large chunk of the reason why people used the club they did many

other things. When people weren’t playing or watching sports it was used as a sort of social club

for people to get to know each other. Or a person might go to the club just to dance at the many

dances in one of the dance halls or ballrooms. Additionally the club did film screening for

members as well as events around the community. There was something for everyone and every

personality at the Habana Vedado Tennis club

from sports to community events.

From what our research found this post

card was circulated from 1907 to 1915. The

photographer, Edicion Jordi, focused his work on landmarks and important places in Cuba.

Unfortunately, nothing was found regarding the series of the postcard or about who publish the

postcard itself. The original club, in the picture above, only contains a large mansion like

building and a tennis court

out front. The photo is

black and white because it as

taken in the early 1900s.

There are pictures below of

what the club looks like

most recently and is hard to

see how much it has

changed but it is getting a facelift as they transform it into a baseball museum (see photo to the

right).

Back of Postcard:
 Works Cited:

https://www.ecured.cu/Vedado_Tennis_Club

http://www.ipscuba.net/english-version/spaces/padura-en/the-resurrection-of-the-vedado-tennis-c

lub/