YMCA - Table of Contents

Young Men's Christian Association Building
45 West Mohawk Street, Buffalo, New York

Built:
1902
Architect:
Green and Wicks
Style:
English-Flemish Renaissance style
Significance: "The YMCA building is one of the major structures remaining in the downtown section that preserves the memory of the original street pattern of the city, much of which has been altered in this area...
The Buffalo YMCA, however, was one of the first, if not the first, Association building to provide extensive accommodations for lodgers...
Designed in the English-Flemish style, situated at a prominent downtown corner, and equipped with the most modern facilities, the Buffalo YMCA building was one of the outstanding examples of its type in the nation." - 
Francis R. Kowsky


Former Residence of Townsend Davis and Cyrus Clark, Mohawk and Genesee Streets.
Next to it, Anthe left, former residence of John S. Noye, later of Hon. Philip Becker.  These sites now covered by the Y.M.C.A. Building.
Source: "The Picture Book of Earlier Buffalo," Frank H. Severance , ed. Buffalo Historical Society Publications, Vol. 16, 1912, p. 401





Center tower with flanking wings
Source: A History of the City of Buffalo, published by the The Buffalo Evening News, 1908



Center tower with flanking wings
Source: Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920



Postcard   ...   Building at right: ?




10-story Center Tower


View from Franklin Street: Top of the
ten-story tower     ...  
" [The YWCA]  provided over sixty rooms for lodgers in its towered section, as well as a restaurant on the top floor." - Francis R. Kowsky    ...   
Detail below:



View from Franklin Street   ...   Slate roof   ...   Flemish roofs   ...   Corner finial   ...   Quoins   ...   Tan-colored bricks with white sandstone decorative details  



Left:  Buffalo Niagara Convention Center (and Statler City)   ...  
Main entrance tetrastyle portico at the base of the 10-story center tower   ...   The tall central section housed on the ground floor a large lobby space   ...   Note window in upper right of photo (detailed below:)


Quoins   ...   Gibbs window surround    ...   String course



Another view below:


Roman (smooth shaft) Tuscan order




A modern interpretation of triglyphs and mutules




This entrance is no longer used because of the sidewalk interruption by the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center
 



2016 Photos
View from Pearl Street: Four-story Eastern Section


 View from Pearl St.   ...    Left:   Buffalo Niagara Convention Center   ... Right: Olympic Tower.

"The irregular building site formed by the intersection of the now-vanished streets, is. nonetheless, still recalled by the bent shape of the building's facade, which followed the line of Mohawk and Genesee streets. The main entrance to the building faced the intersection, and the ten-story tower block above it took full advantage of the scenic potential of the location. As such, the YMCA building is one of the major structures remaining in the downtown section that preserves the memory of the original street pattern of the city, much of which has been altered in this area."

"In the roof there are four round-headed brick and stone dormers rising flush with the plane of the wall, two on either side of the central pavilion. The fenestration of the central section of the pavilion has been bricked up." - Francis R. Kowsky 

Note original YMCA entrance portico at left (south) side of the 10 floor tower building 



Four story eastern section contained an auditorium, swimming pool, and classrooms   ...   Another viewing angle below:


Four story eastern section    ...   "The crown of the gable is decorated with a blank round-headed stone arch. Two obelisks terminate piers at either side of the pavilion." -  Francis R. Kowsky   ...    Three ribbon-supported festoons (detailed below:)


Three ribbon-supported festoons



View from Pearl Street: four story eastern section with 10-story tower behind   ...  
"The narrow east facade of the eastern wing has a tripartite projecting bay terminating in a sloping metal shed roof which replaces the original curved roof. The gable of this narrow elevation is treated as a round arch." - Francis R. Kowsky
Detail below:


Four story eastern section   ...   Copper roof   ...   White sandstone window surround and quoins





View from Franklin Street:  4-story west wing



The four-story western portion, or Franklin Street Annex, as it was called, contained two gymnasiums and the Boy's Department.    ...   Note 10-story center tower behind the Franklin St. Annex   ...   Right:   Buffalo Niagara Convention Center


View from Franklin Street   ...   Slate roof   ...  Stone lintels   ...   Two string courses   ...   Stone water table   ...   Tan-colored bricks with white sandstone decorative details 





Color photos and their arrangement © 2016 Chuck LaChiusa
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