YMCA Building (Shreveport, Louisiana)

YMCA, Downtown Branch
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Front of the building, left, with twin campaniles
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Location	400 McNeil Street, Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
Coordinates	32°30′46″N 93°45′05″W
Built	1925
Architect	Clarence W. King
Owner	YMCA of Northwest Louisiana
Architectural style	Italian Renaissance Revival
Website	www.ymcanwla.org/locations/downtown-ymca/
Part of	Shreveport Commercial Historic District (First Boundary Increase) (ID97000437)
NRHP reference No.	91000621
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	May 28, 1991
Designated CP	May 16, 1997[1]

The YMCA Building is a historic building in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana, built in 1925.[2] The National Register of Historic Places listed the Young Men’s Christian Association structure in 1982.[3]

History

The YMCA first started as a group in Shreveport in the 1860s but did not formally incorporate until 1922. The next year, the group raised $545,000 to build this building which opened in 1925.[4] Monroe E. Dodd, the First Baptist Church pastor and Edward Jacobs, the National Bank of Shreveport founder, both strongly advocated for the project.[5][2]

In the 1960s, the YMCA added a third and fourth story for new bedrooms and converted the old residences on the second story into exercise rooms.[3] The group stopped renting the rooms though and the floors are now vacant.[6] In 2017, barrels of food from 1963 were found in an unused wing of the building, left over from Cold War Civil Defense preparations.[7]

In recent years, the facility attracts downtown office workers to work out and provides exercise classes.[8][9] In 2020, the YMCA renovated the building which included updating the front desk area and CrossFit room, replacing lockers, and converting the underutilized social room into a yoga and Pilates studio.[2] In addition to the main building, the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana maintains two Shreveport neighborhood branches as of 2024. [10]

Architecture

Side entrance along Travis Street

The Villa Medici in Rome, completed in 1544, inspired architect Clarence W. King to design the building in a Italian Renaissance Revival style. The four-story building is built using blond brick and cast concrete with quoining along the corners.[5]

Outside, the front facade includes twin rooftop campaniles with a balustrade running between. The ground story has rows of arched opening each with double arched windows with a central colonnette. Between these are oeil-de-boeuf motifs. The main entrance consists of a triple arch opening flanked by pilasters and topped with a segmental pediment. Gold and blue terra cotta decorations highlight both the campaniles and the entrance.[3]

Inside, a central lobby consists of octagonal piers leading up to a plaster mock groin vaulted ceiling. Behind the lobby, is a small cortile with a fountain set in a tiled niche. The rest of the original interior included two gymnasiums, numerous bedrooms upstairs, and a pool in the basement.[3]

See also

• List of YMCA buildings
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Caddo Parish, Louisiana

References

1. Fricker, Donna (November 1996). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Downtown Shreveport Historic District". National Register of Historic Places. First Boundary Increase. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service. Retrieved January 4, 2025 – via National Archives.
2. Watson, Jimmy (July 23, 2020). "Shreveport's downtown YMCA nears finish of $300K renovation project". The Shreveport Times. Gannett. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
3. Tassin, Leslie (April 18, 1991). "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: YMCA, Downtown Branch". National Register of Historic Places. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service. Retrieved January 4, 2025 – via Louisiana Office of Cultural Development.
4. Boucher, Makenzie (September 25, 2022). "YMCA coming to South Shreveport. Here's what you need to know about Camp Forbing". The Shreveport Times. Gannett. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
5. Todaro, Joe (August 10, 2020). "Downtown YMCA". 318 Forum. Shreveport, Louisiana: Venture Publishing. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
6. Patton, Devon (October 9, 2015). "Legend says spirit haunts downtown Shreveport YMCA". KTBS-TV. Shreveport, Louisiana: Wray Properties Trust. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
7. Wildsmith, Henrietta (December 14, 2017). "Inside the unused wings of the downtown YMCA building". The Shreveport Times. Gannett. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
8. Anderson, Scott "Scooter" (November 18, 2019). "YMCA". 318 Forum. Shreveport, Louisiana: Venture Publishing. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
9. Benn, Domonique (January 22, 2015). "Knock It Off members spin the fat off". KSLA-TV. Shreveport, Louisiana: Gray Television. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
10. Rowell, Kathie (January 11, 2024). "South Shreveport's state-of-the-art Lash Family YMCA to open soon". The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate. Georges Media. Retrieved January 4, 2025.

External links

• YMCA of Northwest Louisiana