New Riding Club
- Architect
- Willard Thomas Sears
- Style
- Queen Anne
- City
- Boston, MA
The New Riding Club is a building at 52 Hemenway Street in Boston's Back Bay, designed by Willard T. Sears and built in 1891 for a club of prominent Bostonians. Back Bay restrictions on stabling horses pushed the club to this site, chosen for its access to the bridle paths of Frederick Law Olmsted's Back Bay Fens. It is the last surviving of three such riding facilities built in the neighborhood in the late 19th century.
the building
A stable turned clubhouse. The building held a riding ring, changing rooms and lounges, plus stabling, grooming, shoeing, and exercise spaces for horses. Its riding instructor was Henry Lucien de Bussigny, a former French cavalry officer and author of several books on horsemanship.
From horses to tennis. The Badminton and Tennis Club acquired the building in 1934 and converted the interior riding ring into tennis courts; the remaining stables became residential apartments in 1985.
the style
The building combines Queen Anne and Tudor Revival elements in its design.
More on Queen Annesignificance
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, it is the only one of Back Bay's three late-19th-century riding facilities to survive.
nearby
- Massachusetts Historical Society
- Fenway Studios
- Symphony Hall
- Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences, One Dalton Street
- Ayer Mansion (interior)
- Boston Young Men's Christian Association