THE architectural heritage and landmarks do not only include buildings, but also landscapes, clubs and main squares; such areas that might enclose historical buildings and historical events. One of these buildings that is attracting the attention of heritage concerned people in Egypt these days is the centre court of the Gezira Sporting Club. The Gezira Club is a landmark of Cairo since the early 1880s. With the current debate over whether the central court of the club should be re-used, or kept intact as it is, let us shed light over this more than 125-years-old not only sporting facility, but also a social and entertaining focal point. Formerly called the Khedivial Sporting Club, the club, initially founded for the British military, lies over a large portion of land cut away from the Botanical Gardens of Khedive Tewfiq and was a highly sought destination to the British elite of Cairo. It was also managed by British high officials in its early days. Since establishment, the polo fields, the race track, and the tennis courts were among the earliest facilities to be constructed. By 1914, the club counted two race tracks, a golf course, four polo fields, six squash courts, more than ten tennis courts and around eight croquet courts. Also, other buildings were added during the following decades, such as the restaurant building with its terrace that was inaugurated in 1929, and the Lido building, which consists of lounges and a large terrace overlooking a swimming pool, that was built in 1935. The club became the official sponsor of Egypt's lawn tennis starting 1907, organising and hosting championships, in addition to awarding two cups, the Doherty for singles and the Slagenzer for doubles. The need for a tennis larger facility became pressing but it was only in 1952 that the centre court was built on the design of Architect Henri Fresco. In the newspapers' articles of the past few weeks, the date of building the centre court and that of establishing the Gezira international tennis Championship were often confused. Whether to keep such a landmark of Cairo as it is, or conceive an adaptive re-use plan that would answer the needs of the club members, is definitely a delicate matter that needs to be carefully examined, taking into consideration the memory of the city and its residents. Fortunately, in the last decade, the attention of the media and the organizations to the architectural heritage had increased a lot especially after the formation of the ‘Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage…quot;CULTNAT' and the ‘National Organisation for Urban Harmony'. Of course, there is still a long way to go in order to catch up with the similar organisations in other countries such as the ‘British Heritage' in England and the ‘Vieilles Maisons Francaise…quot;VMF' in France.
