CLG Review of 5353 Laurel Street

The following is excerpted from the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form prepared by Gabriele Begue: 

The New Orleans Lawn Tennis Club (NOLTC) at 5353 Laurel Street is historically significant at the local level under Criterion A in the area of Entertainment/Recreation for its association with a boom in the popularity of tennis that occurred in New Orleans and nationwide in the late 1960s and 1970s. Beginning in 1968, tennis transitioned into its “open era” and experienced an all-time high in popularity. NOLTC, which was founded in New Orleans in 1876 and had occupied the same facility since 1897, was compelled in 1971 to begin building a new larger, more modern club facility to accommodate its growing membership, which topped 500 for the first time in the club’s history. As a private tennis club with the sole mission of promoting and advancing tennis in New Orleans, NOLTC is the only property of its kind in New Orleans to convey this period of history at the local level. The period of significance begins in 1973, the completion date of the new facility, and ends in 1975, the fifty-year cut-off.

The HDLC Staff recognizes the pivotal role that the New Orleans Lawn And Tennis Club, established in 1876, played in the development of tennis as a sport in the City of New Orleans. However, we do not agree that the club's history or current complex are associated with events that have made a SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE BROAD PATTERNS of our history.  The small membership of the club, its limited scope related to a singular sport means that its impact on the City, State and Nation has been fairly minimal.  As a result, the HDLC staff recommends against the listing of this property on the National Register of Historic Places.