The Young Men's Christian Association was founded in London, England, in 1844 to provide support for young men moving into cities for jobs. The idea moved to Canada and then to Boston, Massachusetts where the first American association was founded in 1851. Four months later, in April 1852, the second was founded in Buffalo at the instigation of George W. Perkins. A small number of interested parties gathered in the organ loft of the Pearl Street Methodist Church (later called the Asbury Methodist) and established the Young Men's Christian Assocation of Buffalo. Its principals were primarily attending to the spiritual needs of young men moving to Buffalo in large numbers in the mid-19th century. Soon it expanded to include providing social, educational and eventually physical exercise opportunities. Prominent Buffalonians led and supported the organization throughout its first fifty years, including Pascal Pratt, William Gratwick, Sherman Rogers, Francis Root, Edward Holmes, George Hazard, Andrew Rich, S.S. Guthrie, O.P. Letchworth, et al. |
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To accomodate its expanding programs, the YMCA leased space in a variety of buildings, among them Kremlin Hall, the Arcade Building, the old Court House. In 1884, the organization achieved the culmination of a dream and moved into its own newly constructed building at Mohawk, Pearl, and Genesee Streets. When they constructed the building, the Board of Trustees believed they had sized it to current and future needs, but only 18 years later, they were forced to begin raising funds again for a still-larger YMCA "Central" building. In 1901, the Buffalo YMCA was among the top five Assocations in the United States in terms of size, with over 5,000 members. The Association offered evening courses in algebra, architectural drawing, English, business law, Latin, physics, etc. Its library boasted 6,652 volumes. But the building at left had inadequate gymnasium facilities, classrooms, and lacked a swimming pool, lodging facilities, a restaurant. The Trustees held a design competition in 1901 for a new building and invited ten Buffalo architectural firms to participate. New York City architectural historian and Columbia professor, A. D. F. Hamlin, was asked to judge the entries. He selected a design by Green & Wicks (with honorable mention to Esenwein & Johnson and Henry O. Holland). Hamlin was familiar with national YMCA architectural preferences, which were for conservative designs, and selected the Green & Wicks design with this in mind.
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1894 Atlas of Buffalo showing the 1884 YMCA building and, shaded in green, the location of the new 1902 building.
The corner of Mohawk & Franklin before 1900. Image source: Picture Book of earlier Buffalo
In 1901, the YMCA board had raised $100,000 to purchase the land for the new YMCA building at Genesee, Mohawk and Franklin streets. As illustrated above in a photo shortly before demolition, the old neighborhood along Franklin was residential but situated on the edge of the encroaching business district. The house in the foreground had been last occupied by three-time former mayor, Phillip Becker. Next door is the former home of lumber magnate John S. Noye. |
Laying of the cornerstone for the new "Central" YMCA at Mohawk & Franklin. Image source: The Second Fifty Years: Buffalo YMCA
Ground was broken for the new building on February 10, 1902; the cornerstone was laid on June 9, 1902. The man in the center of the above image with the white beard is Robert B. Adam (Adam, Meldrum & Anderson), president of the Board of Trustees. At this time, the total funds needed had not been entirely raised, but in the coming months, the necessary $300,000 for construction and furnishing of the new building was collected. |
YMCA building and Men's Hotel, c. 1910. The church steeple at far right is the old Central Presbyterian church. Image source: The Second Fifty Years: Buffalo YMCA
The new building opened in 1903 to great fanfare. The English-Flemish design elegantly utilized the oddly-shaped parcel and the ten-story tower, one of the tallest buildings in Buffalo, provided a scenic view of the harbor. Inside, the ground floor had a large lobby. The upper floors of the tower featured classrooms, offices, a 60-room dormitory and restaurant. Adjacent to the lobby was the "Association Spa," a cafe that served non-alcoholic beverages nightly until midnight, providing a social alternative to the bars. This was the first such facility in a YMCA and was copied in other cities. In the four-story eastern section was an auditorium, swimming pool, and classrooms. The four-story western section, called the Franklin Street Annex, contained two gymnasiums and the Boys Department. The Trustees were not finished building on this location yet. They felt they had "an obligation to young men coming to Buffalo as strangers," and planned a men's hotel adjacent and connected to the building. John D. Larkin purchased the site at Genesee and Pearl streets for a men's hotel conceived as a social center, home and club for men "of small income." It opened in 1910 and had 300 rooms in its nine stories; they rented for thirty and fifty cents per night, or $8 and $10 per month. In its first year, it reached 92% occupany, more than was needed to support its operation. |
In 1903, the old YMCA building at Genesee and Pearl streets was sold to the YWCA, which had outgrown its own building on Niagara Square. The YMCA built and operated additional buildings across the city: West Side Branch (1909), Triangle Inn Branch (1920), Homestead Lodge Branch (1925), South Buffalo Branch (1927). Delaware Avenue Branch (1928), Michigan Avenue Branch (1928), Humboldt Branch (1928). But the "Central" building remained in use until around 1978, when it became vacant and remained so for nearly ten years. |
 Aerial view shwoing Genesee Street. Image source: private collection |
YMCA building 1960's, Men's Hotel at right. Image source: privat collection
1978 photo of the new convention center being built on Genesee Street in front of the YMCA. Image source: private collection.
In the 1970s, Genesee Street, one of the major radial arteries laid out by Joseph Ellicott at the city's founding, was obstructed by constuction of the Buffalo Convention Center and the Hyatt Hotel. In the above photo, the Men's Hotel is at right. |
Front of the YMCA building obscured by the convention center.
Main entrance of the YMCA building.
Convention center, at left, YMCA main entrance at right.
Olympic Towers. Image source: CBRE
In 1987, local developer Paul Snyder and Ross Kenzie of Goldome Bank purchased the YMCA building and created Olympic Towers by adding an atrium and a four-story glass and steel structure. In all, the complex has 180,000 square feet of office space. It has had difficulty finding owners in recent years, but in January 2012 it was purchased by Prime Asset Fund for $2.5 million dollars. |