Renaissance Revival hits a snag
Put it on the CultureList: Will anyone even try to save the imperiled, olddowntown YMCA building?
The 1941 YMCA building at 1600 Louisiana
"A Home away from home is provided at the Y.M.C.A. for young men." (HoustonChronicle, Jan. 23, 1955)
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In this article, Steven Thomson shines a light on a building that belongs on the Imperiled Architecture list, one whose expected impending demise has almost already been forgotten.
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It's been a good year for Renaissance Revival architecture in Houston: the gallery space at Isabella Court is occupied and the Julia Ideson Library's original vision has been fully realized. But with the opening of the new Tellepsen Family Downtown YMCA at 808 Pease, its original historic building a short stroll away at 1600 Louisiana faces a precarious future.
Before this month's unveiling of its new digs, the downtown YMCA operated at 1600 Louisiana. When the $1 million-building that housed the Y opened in September, 1941, it stood as a testament to the United States' emergence from the Great Depression and commitment to strong values in contrast to the political turmoil in Europe. Once in operation, the Y was a beacon of wholesome Christian values in what was still a residential neighborhood southwest of downtown.
The architecture is attributable to the MIT-educated Kenneth Franzheim. A native West Virginian, Franzheim was stationed in Houston during World War I, where he married the daughter of a local oil tycoon. He was later commissioned from his New York office by Jesse H. Jones to design a coliseum for the Democratic National Convention and the iconic Gulf Building. In the early 1930s, he collaborated with John Staub, the architect of countless River Oaks mansions, including Bayou Bend.
With the Downtown Y, Franzheim broke with the Art Deco motifs of the age, looking back to America's fascination with Renaissance Revival architecture, which reached its height in the latter half of the 19th century. Through thoughtful variations in brick color, he produced the effect of quoins, lintels, arched entryways and other traditionally stone details. The 10-story building was topped with historicist roundel windows.
While Franzheim organized the building around a traditionally Italianate patio, cloister and loggia, the stepped-back massing reflects building techniques of the time, as seen in Houston City Hall.
Chevron has already bought the land the old YMCA building occupies, which sits in the shadows of the oil giant's current headquarters in the former Enron towers. The historic structure is expected to be torn down to make room for the oil company's plans.
The YMCA has estimated that renovating the 1941 structure would cost $15 million, a figure that might be unfeasible for a non-profit, but a manageable sum for a shrewd real estate developer. The pedigreed historic building seemed like it would have been ripe for redevelopment as residential lofts or office space for creative businesses.
The old downtown YMCA stands as a candidate for the CultureList of Imperiled Architecture.
