Young Men's Christian Association Building (Albany, New York)
Encyclopedia
The former Young Men's Christian Association Building in Albany
, New York, United States, is located on Pearl Street (New York State Route 32
). It was built in the 1880s in the Romanesque Revival
architectural style
, with an existing neighboring structure annexed to it and a rear addition built in the 1920s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1978. Two years later, when the Downtown Albany
Historic District
was designated and listed on the Register, the YMCA
building was further included as a contributing property
.
At the time of its construction, it had the first gymnasium
in upstate New York
, and one of the earliest indoor swimming pools in the country. Several years later, it hosted the first basketball
game played away from Springfield College, where the sport was invented. Today it is used as professional and office space with retail businesses and a bar at street level.
. The ground slopes upward to the west, away from the nearby Hudson River
, exposing the lowest story as the ground level along Pearl Street.
That ground level is part of a two-story foundation
of rough-cut masonry
with brownstone
trim. The three stories above are faced in brick, also with brownstone. A flat-roofed round turret
begins at the second story on the southeast corner. At the top is a steeply pitched
gable
d slate roof with three projecting gables and several small dormer windows.
At street level is the glass front of the Pearl Street Pub, a bar, wrapping around to the east end of the south facade
. To its west is a small recessed rectangular triple window and then the main entryway, a two-story segmented archway with foliated decoration and a balustraded stone stairway recessed deeply inside. A large datestone
is to the east of the archway. Beyond it to the west is an oriel window
. On the second story are rectangular one-over-one double-hung sash window
s with transoms above set in a pair of doubles on the east and two groups of three on either side of the entryway rising from a brownstone belt course
at sill level.
Foliation similar to the archway also girdles the lower section of the turret, which begins to rise in brownstone below the cornice
that divides brick and stone. Above it on the east facade
is a plain brownstone frieze
with "Young Men's Christian Association" carved into it. The third floor has three individual one-over-one rectangular windows on the east, a triple window on the turret, two double windows in slightly recessed round-arched bays
on the south face, their sills part of another belt course, and then two unrecessed double windows. The east end has one narrow window and then two more double windows.
The fourth floor's east facade has a recessed quintuple window with stone mullions and foliate carvings, followed by another triple window on the turret. The two windows at the top of the recessed bays have stone segmental arches. The next two windows are similar to those below them except not as tall. Two narrow windows separate them from a triple window with semicircular arch at the west end.
A molded
stone cornice sets off the uppermost story. It serves as the sill of four deeply recessed windows above it on the east facade. A common lintel is the springline for their segmented-arch tops. The top of the turret has seven narrow windows with transoms and panels atop, with a metal-trimmed cornice at its roofline. On the south the cornice continues, serving as the sill for two groups of three deeply recessed windows. Below the gable are three windows with the same treatment as those on the east, save for rough-cut stone in their arches. Between it and the similarly treated west gable are a triple and double similar to the ones at the east corner. The lower west gable's window uses the cornice as its sill.
The attic level of the east gable and the central gable on the south have a small triple window with smooth-faced stone segmental arch and transom. The roof is marked by a wide overhanging eave and cornice between the gables and a thin cornice of metal-trimmed stone on them. The two dormers piercing the roof on either side of the central gable have hipped roofs
.
To the north, the building at 64 Pearl was annexed to the YMCA. It had been expanded for commercial use from an earlier structure six years earlier. Its five stories are faced in gauged decorative brickwork
with segmental-arched keystone
d window surrounds of rough-cut stone. The flat roof has a bracketed
cornice trimmed in stamped metal. To the west of the main block is a six-story addition with an entrance at the northwest corner. It and the double windows are trimmed in rough-cut stone, and its flat roof has a metal cornice.
Inside there have been many alterations and modifications over the years, as well as fire and water damage, and much original finish has been lost, particularly in the annexed building at 64 Pearl. The main block has its original south stairwell and first-floor door and window surrounds, and a main parlor fireplace with a large ogee
-shaped mantel
. The basement swimming pool has its original arcade
, and the original gymnasium occupies most of the lower floors. On the upper floors are many original dormitory
rooms.
's founding, a local organization was established in Albany. It used other properties for its programming until James Jermain donated $50,000 ($ in modern dollars) to go toward the construction of a new building. After a matching amount was raised through subscriptions
from the public, the lot and neighboring building were purchased.
Local architects Albert Fuller and William Wheeler collaborated on a Romanesque Revival
design that has been seen as exemplifying that style as applied to a densely-developed urban site. When finished in 1886, it had one of the first indoor swimming pools in the country and the first gymnasium
in upstate New York
. Two years later, it was formally dedicated and began growing into a major civic organization. In 1892, it was home to an important event in the history of basketball
: the sport's first game played away from Springfield College in Massachusetts
, where it had been invented in 1890 by James Naismith
.
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
, New York, United States, is located on Pearl Street (New York State Route 32
New York State Route 32
New York State Route 32 is a north–south state highway that extends for through the Hudson Valley and Capital District regions of the U.S. state of New York. It is a two-lane surface road for nearly its entire length, with few divided and no limited-access sections. From Harriman to Albany,...
). It was built in the 1880s in the Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
, with an existing neighboring structure annexed to it and a rear addition built in the 1920s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1978. Two years later, when the Downtown Albany
Downtown Albany Historic District
The Downtown Albany Historic District is a 19-block, area of Albany, New York, United States, centered around the junction of State and North and South Pearl streets . It is the oldest settled area of the city, originally planned and settled in the 17th century, and the nucleus of its later...
Historic District
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
was designated and listed on the Register, the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
building was further included as a contributing property
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
.
At the time of its construction, it had the first gymnasium
Gymnasium
Gymnasium may refer to:*Gymnasium , educational and sporting institution*Gymnasium , type of secondary school that prepares students for higher education**Gymnasium **Gymnasium...
in upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
, and one of the earliest indoor swimming pools in the country. Several years later, it hosted the first basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
game played away from Springfield College, where the sport was invented. Today it is used as professional and office space with retail businesses and a bar at street level.
Building
The building is located at the northwest corner of the Steuben Street intersection. The surrounding neighborhood is densely developed with tall brick commercial buildings of a similar vintage and scale such as the Kenmore HotelKenmore Hotel
The Kenmore Hotel is a historic building at 74 North Pearl Street in the city of Albany, New York. It was built in 1878 by an African-American, Adam Blake , and owned by him until his death, at which time it was taken over by his widow Catherine, who continued until 1887.Adam Blake was named for...
. The ground slopes upward to the west, away from the nearby Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
, exposing the lowest story as the ground level along Pearl Street.
That ground level is part of a two-story foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
of rough-cut masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
with brownstone
Brownstone
Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States to refer to a terraced house clad in this material.-Types:-Apostle Island brownstone:...
trim. The three stories above are faced in brick, also with brownstone. A flat-roofed round turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
begins at the second story on the southeast corner. At the top is a steeply pitched
Roof pitch
In building construction, roof pitch is a numerical measure of the steepness of a roof, and a pitched roof is a roof that is steep.The roof's pitch is the measured vertical rise divided by the measured horizontal span, the same thing as what is called "slope" in geometry. Roof pitch is typically...
gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d slate roof with three projecting gables and several small dormer windows.
At street level is the glass front of the Pearl Street Pub, a bar, wrapping around to the east end of the south facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
. To its west is a small recessed rectangular triple window and then the main entryway, a two-story segmented archway with foliated decoration and a balustraded stone stairway recessed deeply inside. A large datestone
Datestone
A datestone is typically an embedded stone with the date of engraving and other information carved into it. They are not considered a very reliable source for dating a house, as instances of old houses being destroyed and rebuilt have been reported.Specific locations have often been chosen for...
is to the east of the archway. Beyond it to the west is an oriel window
Oriel window
Oriel windows are a form of bay window commonly found in Gothic architecture, which project from the main wall of the building but do not reach to the ground. Corbels or brackets are often used to support this kind of window. They are seen in combination with the Tudor arch. This type of window was...
. On the second story are rectangular one-over-one double-hung sash window
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
s with transoms above set in a pair of doubles on the east and two groups of three on either side of the entryway rising from a brownstone belt course
Course (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...
at sill level.
Foliation similar to the archway also girdles the lower section of the turret, which begins to rise in brownstone below the cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
that divides brick and stone. Above it on the east facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
is a plain brownstone frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
with "Young Men's Christian Association" carved into it. The third floor has three individual one-over-one rectangular windows on the east, a triple window on the turret, two double windows in slightly recessed round-arched bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
on the south face, their sills part of another belt course, and then two unrecessed double windows. The east end has one narrow window and then two more double windows.
The fourth floor's east facade has a recessed quintuple window with stone mullions and foliate carvings, followed by another triple window on the turret. The two windows at the top of the recessed bays have stone segmental arches. The next two windows are similar to those below them except not as tall. Two narrow windows separate them from a triple window with semicircular arch at the west end.
A molded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
stone cornice sets off the uppermost story. It serves as the sill of four deeply recessed windows above it on the east facade. A common lintel is the springline for their segmented-arch tops. The top of the turret has seven narrow windows with transoms and panels atop, with a metal-trimmed cornice at its roofline. On the south the cornice continues, serving as the sill for two groups of three deeply recessed windows. Below the gable are three windows with the same treatment as those on the east, save for rough-cut stone in their arches. Between it and the similarly treated west gable are a triple and double similar to the ones at the east corner. The lower west gable's window uses the cornice as its sill.
The attic level of the east gable and the central gable on the south have a small triple window with smooth-faced stone segmental arch and transom. The roof is marked by a wide overhanging eave and cornice between the gables and a thin cornice of metal-trimmed stone on them. The two dormers piercing the roof on either side of the central gable have hipped roofs
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
.
To the north, the building at 64 Pearl was annexed to the YMCA. It had been expanded for commercial use from an earlier structure six years earlier. Its five stories are faced in gauged decorative brickwork
Brickwork
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar to build up brick structures such as walls. Brickwork is also used to finish corners, door, and window openings, etc...
with segmental-arched keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
d window surrounds of rough-cut stone. The flat roof has a bracketed
Bracket (architecture)
A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
cornice trimmed in stamped metal. To the west of the main block is a six-story addition with an entrance at the northwest corner. It and the double windows are trimmed in rough-cut stone, and its flat roof has a metal cornice.
Inside there have been many alterations and modifications over the years, as well as fire and water damage, and much original finish has been lost, particularly in the annexed building at 64 Pearl. The main block has its original south stairwell and first-floor door and window surrounds, and a main parlor fireplace with a large ogee
Ogee
An ogee is a curve , shaped somewhat like an S, consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite senses, so that the ends are parallel....
-shaped mantel
Fireplace mantel
Fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and can include elaborate designs extending to the ceiling...
. The basement swimming pool has its original arcade
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
, and the original gymnasium occupies most of the lower floors. On the upper floors are many original dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
rooms.
History
In 1857, six years after the national YMCAYMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
's founding, a local organization was established in Albany. It used other properties for its programming until James Jermain donated $50,000 ($ in modern dollars) to go toward the construction of a new building. After a matching amount was raised through subscriptions
Subscription business model
The subscription business model is a business model where a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the product/service. The model was pioneered by magazines and newspapers, but is now used by many businesses and websites....
from the public, the lot and neighboring building were purchased.
Local architects Albert Fuller and William Wheeler collaborated on a Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
design that has been seen as exemplifying that style as applied to a densely-developed urban site. When finished in 1886, it had one of the first indoor swimming pools in the country and the first gymnasium
Gymnasium
Gymnasium may refer to:*Gymnasium , educational and sporting institution*Gymnasium , type of secondary school that prepares students for higher education**Gymnasium **Gymnasium...
in upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
. Two years later, it was formally dedicated and began growing into a major civic organization. In 1892, it was home to an important event in the history of basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
: the sport's first game played away from Springfield College in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, where it had been invented in 1890 by James Naismith
James Naismith
The first game of "Basket Ball" was played in December 1891. In a handwritten report, Naismith described the circumstances of the inaugural match; in contrast to modern basketball, the players played nine versus nine, handled a soccer ball, not a basketball, and instead of shooting at two hoops,...
.