Historical
It is not commonly known, but the Grange Tennis Courts were located at the end of Grange St, Mont Albert.
They were owned by a Mr Tinewell, of 13 Grange St.
The land for the courts had been acquired in 1948, when a 250 ft strip of paddock at the rear
(south) of the properties at 402 to 408 Mont Albert Rd was purchased by Mr. Tinewell.
This yielded a total area for the Courts measuring 250 ft by 276 ft.
These properties had previoulsly been of 476 ft depth, and the new depth was thus reduced to 200 ft.
The author's home is on one of these large properties!
Pedestrian access to the Courts was via a footway (which still exists) to Grange St adjacent to
no. 13 Grange St, from a right-of-way running between Mont Albert Rd and Windsor Crescent.
Vehicle access was from Grange St or Blenheim Avenue.
The courts were of red gravel porous construction. A blue-stone open drain extended along the northern
boundary adjacent to the rear of the properties in Mont Albert Rd. A high wire fence along this boundary was intended to limit errant
tennis balls!
The author notes that he found some of these balls in April 2013 in his back-yard!
He recalls spending many hours on the Courts until their closure!
Various owners of the property at no. 19 Grange St, have discovered red gravel under their back
garden. It would appear that when the Courts were closed down, most of the red gravel was not removed.
The public Courts existed until 1968, when the owner sold the land for residential
development. The extension of Grange St resulted in new houses being built on nos.15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
27, 28 and 29.
As part of this development, Grange St was extended north and west.
