YMCA Boston facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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YMCA Boston
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | 312-320 Huntington Ave., Boston |
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| Area | 1.9 acres (0.77 ha) |
| Built | 1911 |
| Architect | Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge; Woodbury and Leighton |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival, tapestry brick |
| NRHP reference No. | 98001082 |
| Added to NRHP | August 20, 1998 |
YMCA Boston is also known as "YMCA of Greater Boston." It was started in 1851 in Boston, Massachusetts. This was the very first YMCA group in the United States!
Contents
The YMCA's Early Days
The YMCA of Greater Boston began in 1851. It was the first YMCA in the United States. At first, it was a small group focused on Christian teachings. By the late 1800s, it grew into a big organization. Its main goal was to help young men live better lives.
The YMCA offered many things to help young men. They had places for sports and learning. They also helped young men find jobs. The YMCA provided housing for young men who were not married. They even organized fun summer camps for boys. It was also a safe place for young men to meet and make friends.
YMCA on Huntington Avenue
Why a New Building?
Many important places in Boston started moving away from the city center. This happened after the Back Bay area was filled in. Also, some big fires changed how buildings were used downtown. So, many businesses and groups moved further out. They moved down Huntington Avenue.
Some of these places included the Museum of Fine Arts. The New England Conservatory and the Opera House also moved there. All these buildings were on the same street as the new YMCA. These places were important to the YMCA. Like the YMCA, they wanted to help Boston residents learn and grow.
Building the New YMCA
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In 1911, work began on a new set of buildings for the YMCA. A famous Boston architecture company, Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, designed them. Even President William Howard Taft helped start the building work!
The YMCA on Huntington Avenue was built on a piece of land called Gravelly Point. This area was next to land created by filling in the Back Bay. The YMCA buildings were designed to look like the buildings nearby. They used styles like Neoclassical and Renaissance art.
The architects designed three separate buildings. But they were all connected. This helped meet the YMCA's many needs. There was a seven-story main building. This was the heart of the complex and faced Huntington Avenue. Then there were smaller buildings for the gym and education. These were behind the main building. This whole group of buildings was called YMCA Huntington Avenue.
This big building project helped shape the area around the YMCA. By the time the YMCA was built, Gravelly Point had become a busy city area. In 2012, the Education and Gymnasium buildings were sold. The inside of the main Administration building was completely updated.
The Main Administration Building
The Administration Building faces Huntington Avenue. It is made of grey brick. This building is the most noticeable part of the complex.
The first floor of this building had a fancy lobby. It had beautiful wood panels and shiny terrazzo marble floors. The lobby led to a tall main hall with a skylight. This hall was also decorated in a very elegant way. Using expensive materials showed that the YMCA was a well-funded group. It also showed they wanted to teach members "good taste."
Around the main hall were other rooms. There was a billiards room, a game room, and social rooms. There was also a spa. These features were meant to attract young men. They wanted to offer fun things instead of bars. Another entrance on Huntington Avenue led to Bates Hall. This was a large auditorium.
The floors above were used for classrooms and offices. There was also a nice library. Old building plans show that some classrooms were for Bible Study. This shows the YMCA still believed in its original ideas. The top floors had rooms for young men to live in. Each of these floors had shared bathrooms, showers, and bathtubs. A special area on the sixth floor had a nurse's station and a "sick room." These features made the building work much like a college dorm today.
The Education Building
The original plans for this building show it was a simple rectangle. It had six floors, including the basement. The basement was mostly for building services and offices. The first floor had study rooms, reading rooms, and clubrooms. It also had pool and game rooms, offices, and an entrance lobby.
The second floor had classrooms for learning languages, history, science, and grammar. On the third floor, you could study law, business, accounting, math, and art. The fourth floor had bigger rooms for lectures and drawing. It also had science labs. Finally, the top fifth floor had small dorms for boys. Each floor had a long hallway in the middle. Classrooms, labs, offices, or larger meeting spaces were all around it.
The YMCA offered classes and places to live at much lower prices. This was cheaper than other schools nearby. Classes were also open in the evening. This meant young men who worked during the day could still learn. The YMCA's popular classes were so in demand that they became part of Northeastern College. This college could give out degrees. Soon after, the YMCA bought land nearby and started Northeastern University. It wasn't until the mid-1900s that the University became a separate organization from the YMCA.
The Gymnasium
In the early 1880s, gyms became a key part of the YMCA's programs. These programs helped young men build good character. Under Director Walter C. Douglas, YMCA Boston started the Fourfold Plan. This plan mixed Christian teachings with sports. It encouraged young men to focus on four parts of their lives: spiritual, intellectual, physical, and social.
At the same time, YMCA Boston changed who could join. For the first time, all men in Boston could join the YMCA. This included both Christian and non-Christian men. Not surprisingly, the number of YMCA members grew a lot!
The new building included a modern gym and swimming pool. This showed the YMCA's strong focus on physical fitness. The basement had areas for fencing, wrestling, and boxing. It also had two tall handball courts and a six-lane bowling alley. The first floor had seats to watch handball games. It also had an exercise room with wood floors. There was a large, skylit swimming pool with a slide and a diving board. A marble massage room offered services like table massages, steam baths, and special showers.
The second floor had more seating above the pool. There were also three gymnasiums. One was large, with two smaller gyms next to it. A running track was above them around the edge. You could use spiral stairs in the corners of the gyms to get to the track.
Locker rooms were a very important part of the gym building. YMCA Huntington had three different locker rooms. The basement had a large boys' locker room. It had lockers for sports clothes and a big shower room next to it. On the first floor, there were two locker rooms. The businessmen's locker room was smaller. It had individual marble shower stalls and marble walls. It also had oak benches. This locker room led to the businessmen's club room. The men's club locker room was also on the first floor. It was split into a large and a small locker room. It had a group shower with terra cotta and marble. This locker room also offered individual showers, fan rooms, and steam baths. It also had marble walls and oak benches. The different locker rooms showed how the YMCA separated spaces. This was based on things like social class.
What's New at the YMCA?
The building is a special part of Boston. Its brick front on Huntington Avenue is very unique. It has a large sign with glowing letters. This is the only sign of its kind left in New England. In 1998, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it is a very important historical place.
In 2012, the YMCA sold its gym building and another part called the Hastings wing. They sold it to a company for $21.5 million. This company built a 17-story dorm behind the Administration Building. Northeastern University now leases this dorm.
Starting in 2012, the YMCA spent $40 million to update its remaining space. This included a $1 million gift from Liberty Mutual Insurance. They wanted to create a modern community center. It is now welcoming and easy for everyone to use. The new YMCA has over 10,000 square feet for strength and cardio workouts. It has a bigger pool and new locker rooms for men, women, families, and children. There is also a special center for teens. They have classrooms for after-school programs and adult learning. There's a gym, sports courts, and multi-purpose studios. The new lobby shows the YMCA's history while offering modern features.
However, some people were not happy about the changes. For example, the pool was removed to build the new dorm. Many people in the community were against this. Nearly 1,000 YMCA members signed a petition to stop the new dorm from being built. A group called "Save Boston YMCA" was formed to fight the project. Calvin Arey, a leader of this group, said that the new dorm was "destroying a property that's on the National Register of Historic Places." He also said that the area was "never intended to be an area for 17 story towers." But the new dorm was still built and finished in 2015.
See also
- YMCA
- Northeastern University of the Boston YMCA
- YMCA Training, Inc. Boston
- National Register of Historic Places listings in southern Boston, Massachusetts
