The Piscine du Tennis-Club is a private collective pool belonging to a sports association in Reims. Created in 1922-23 by architect Jacques Rapin, the pool was designed in the Art Deco style. The facility includes the pool, a pergola, benches, and surrounding walls, all of which have been listed as historical monuments since January 25, 2001.
The design of the pool emphasizes both physical development and aesthetic beauty. It features two distinct basins that served as sites for water polo and diving, aiming for an ideal of corporal development through sport. The interior is decorated with mosaics, bins, and decorative wall banding. Starting in the 1920s, the pool also became a venue for concerts and spectacles.
The surrounding complex features a variety of structures and styles. The clubhouse, built in 1922, is a cottage-style building with a fireplace and a wooden balustrade gallery. While the original wooden hall built by Édouard Redont disappeared to make way for a reinforced concrete hall by Jacques Herbé and the Galloy brothers, the most modern metallic covering is the work of G. Henry from 2001-2006.
Today, the pool remains an active site for the tennis club. Because maintaining a pool for a simple association is a significant financial burden, the club launched a call for patrons in July 2021 to ensure the preservation of the site. The pool remains a significant example of early 20th-century sports architecture in the Marne region.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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