The West Side branch of the YMCA of Greater New York began in November
1896 on 57th Street in a building known as "McBurney's Folly" because its vast
size and scope were thought to be far greater than would ever be needed in New
York City. It was also seen as too remote from the center of the city to be
attractive. Despite its nickname, the building soon became an important
influence in subsequent YMCA building design. The structure was built on land
donated by Cornelius and William H. Vanderbilt and had separate facilities for
boys and men, including gyms, swimming pools, and bowling alleys. Although it
added a 300 bed residence in 1912, the branch moved to a new location in April
of 1930. The new building, between 3-11 West 63rd Street and 6-12 West 64th
Street opened near Central Park West, with a capacity for 10,000 members and a
cost of $3,250,000. Soon after, an addition was constructed to house the Trade
and Technical School of the Educational Department. Later to be a college
preparatory school known as the McBurney School, it is thought to have been the
model for the school attended by Holden Caulfied in
Designed by Dwight James Baum, who made his professional reputation building houses for the upper-middle class in Riverdale's Fieldston section in the Bronx and in Westchester County suburbs, the structure was the world's largest YMCA building. With fourteen stories and 600 guest rooms, the West Side Y was designed around a medieval theme, with polychrome tile, battlements and irregular balconies spaced to resemble a 12th century Italian fortified town. Baum's appointment as architect may have been a result of his success with New York Association president Cleveland E. Dodge's house in Riverdale, which he designed in 1924.
The McBurney School moved and eventually closed, and the YMCA of Greater New York then sold the building and the air rights to a developer who opened a 41-story condominium tower cantilevered over the West Side Y. The YMCA reportedly received $23 million dollars in new facilities and cash payments despite the bitter opposition aroused in the neighborhood by the project.
This branch of the YMCA of Greater New York has a long history of athletic prowess, and its gymnastics, handball and basketball teams have been well-regarded during this branch's 100-plus year history. Like other YMCAs in New York City with residential programs, the West Side YMCA provided a temporary home to a number of future celebrities, including Fred Allen, John Barrymore, Montgomery Clift, Lee J. Cobb, Kirk Douglas, Eddie Duchin, Douglas Fairbanks, Dave Garroway, Bob Hope, Elia Kazan, Jack Kerouac, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dan Rather, Norman Rockwell, Andy Rooney, Robert Penn Warren, Johnny Weismuller, Malcolm X and Tennessee Williams.
(Information taken from
The West Side YMCA photos focus on the interior and exterior of the building on West 63rd Street in New York City. There are also many photographs of the athletic programs operated by the West Side YMCA, including swimming, wrestling and gymnastics. Notables appearing in the collection include photos of appearances made by future president Richard Nixon, TV personalities Mike Wallace and Geraldo Rivera, actor Burgess Meredith, and boxer Rocky Marciano.
These documents are organized into the following sections:
This collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright, ownership, and to obtain all the necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials.
Processed by: Louise Merriam, October 2007.
Catalog Record ID number: 5110692
The following section contains a detailed list of the materials in the collection. To request materials, please note the corresponding box number.
Images include 1953-1954 athletic council and rough proofs of handball champs and basketball team photos from 1964.
Pyramids, parallel bars, tumbling and mat, team photos, rings,
Women on the running track, weight training for women.
Getting weighed, balance beam, lung capacity and pictures of people browsing information tables for this major fitness program.
Olympic medal winner Lynn Burke was a spokesperson and volunteer swim teacher for the New York YMCA. She promoted the Learn to Swim program at the West Side YMCA.
Images include water polo, two women in swimsuits, swimming lessons, group swimming, young adult swim, actor Burgess Meredith leading "Learn to Swim" sessions, getting ready to dive in, nude swimming, learning to kick, Jerry Kouveras, lifesaving, swimming demonstration for parents, racing and platform diving.
Team photos, game photos.
Includes portraits of Leader's Club members, group photos and gymnastics shows.
Includes practice and performance of events such as pyramids, trampoline, parallel bars, rings, conditioning training, freestyle, uneven parallel bars, vault, tumbling, women's gymnastics, balance beam.
Includes handball on the roof, team dance, team photos, trophy.
Images include rowing machines, ping pong, punching bag, stretching, squash, volleyball, martial arts, tennis, trophy, fencing, boxing, stationary bike, track team, sunbathing on the roof, wrestling, horseback riding, sailing, scuba diving, calisthenics.
Images include weight lifting, body building and class settings.
Includes photo of Murray Edelman, Bill Panzen, Al Crawford, Reinhold Metzger, Jim LeRoc, Al McConnell, Albert Ashcroft, Harry Lanzi, Lowell Lang, Doug Lee, Alan Israel, John Telesmanich, and Dave Cropp.
Includes match between Edelman and Jennings, National Youth Wrestling Championship award ceremony - 1950, 1949 team photo, 1933-34 team photo, 1931 team photo, 1932-33 team photo, poster from the A.A.U. national championships of 1943.
Primarily from National Youth Wrestling Championship of 1950.
Includes images of fencing, gymnastics, and youth sports.
Includes renderings of German Branch and Boys' Building.
Includes 1894 clipping from
Boys with car, protesters, outside dance instruction on West 64th Street.
Includes photos of boys, sailors, and new citizens posed before the building. Also includes images of the Majestic Theater
Hand-drawn map showing the location of the West Side YMCA, Central Park West, and Central Park South.
Images include possible photo of West Side Lunch Club, employment office, reading room, motion picture class, lobby, dormitory room with Exeter and Harvard pillows, getting a physical, annual dinner with Board of Directors and secretaries and their wives, library, dining room, afternoon social, empty auditorium, lunch counter.
Photos of Marine looking at bulletin board in lobby, teens at desk before a World Youth Fund poster, chemists' club, sailor getting his picture taken, working on a motor, working on a plane engine, watching early television, working in air conditioning shop, mixing chemicals, Dennis James of CBS and children, serviceman writing a letter, dance, relaxing in the lounge, draftee receiving coffee and donuts, sailors making donations, Mike Wallace of CBS News filming in the lobby, serving coffee in the lobby, WWI era scene in lobby with soldiers, first aid class, Coast Guard at YMCA event, Knights of the Round table and newspaper drive, Knights of the Round table and Rocky Marciano, arts and crafts under the direction of Michael Adrian, knighting incoming King Arthur, playing cards, sign painting class, servicemen and dates, sunbathing on the roof, chiropody services, student council meeting, gift-wrapping, lunch counter, War Services booth, palm reading, dormitory room.
Pool room, cafeteria door, kitchen, dormitory room, billiard room, gym, cafeteria, dining room, board room, lobby and elevator bank, writing room, archway, ornamental wall in swimming pool, Kingsley chapel and altar, reading room, doorway of cafeteria, shower room, TV room, window and door details, shop room, steam room, executive secretary's suite.
Photos include bricklaying, making false teeth, auto repair, women in auto repair class, refrigerator repair, batteries, radio.
Includes images of people swimming as well as an empty pool.
Includes Christmas decorations and western-themed bedroom.
Part of the Million Dollar Youth Program of the YMCA of Greater New York, this fund-raiser helped furnish funds for the West Side Y's Accent on Youth program.
Images include boys playing ping pong, boys with bat and glove, a group photo of high school students, gymnastics instruction, getting reading for an Indian ceremony, and standing before a poster: "Building Boys is Better than Mending Men".
Publicity photos and press release about West Side YMCA's
production of
Cornerstone laying in 1929. Images of Honorable Charles H. Tuttle, U.S. Attorney for the Southern district of New York and the craftsmen involved in the building of the West Side YMCA.
Images include a singer in drag, a minstrel show, the
Playing pool, punching bag, playing in the band, basketball, display.
Judo demonstration, information table, belly dancing, arts and crafts.
E. J. Simonds, a graduate of Yale, entered YMCA work in 1902 and was a Secretary in India, Havana and San Juan. The images include him on a camel in India, the swimming pool at the Havana YMCA, exterior of the Havana Y, audience at a gymnastics demonstration at the Havana Y, the Board of Directors in Havana, Christmas festival for poor children, and a portrait of E. J. Simonds at his desk in Havana.
Images of Mazzola Fun Run and of "Geraldo Rivera and A Night of Boxing Nostalgia" at Studio 54. Includes Johnson, WABC TV Eyewitness News correspondent, Bob Ciocher, boxing coach at the Westside YMCA, and Hans Georg Lindner, Executive Director, Westside YMCA, reception after the Mazzola Fun Run at Tavern on the Green, John Roland of WABC-TV.
Images include future president Richard Nixon, photos of people working in arts and crafts classes, the Morris Morgenstern lounge, and miscellaneous program negatives.
Images include images of a black face minstrel show and a photo of a truck advertising a street meeting.
Images include: Healthmobile, Indian dancers, Metro Sweepstakes drawing with John Rowland of WABC-TV.
Street meetings, factory workers, musical performances on the shop floor, Americanization of workers, "How to Live" course, hospital ward at Christmas.
Twenty-fifth anniversary dinner, new members dinner, interfaith dinners.
USO dances, square dancing, pictures of the band.
Images include sailors in gym, women sewing for soldiers, draftees, West Side honor role.
Knights of the Round Table, watching basketball, head stands, stretching, World Youth Fund, going off the high dive, boys singing, gym class, baseball on the roof, eating watermelon, ping pong, log cabin room, model ship, library display, Joe Black and baseball clinic, horse shoes, pool.
Demonstrating the treatment of a car accident victim.
Images include members of the Clinton Commerce Club, a first aid class, the shop man's dinner, fellowship support, employed boy's supper, Victrola concert, and a minstrel show.
Includes images of a piano factory, subway tunnel under construction, the 99th Street Interborough Shop.
Includes membership campaign, Boy's Leaders Club, West Side Parish House groups.
Includes postcards, scenes around Havana, Havana YMCA photos,
cutting up the
Includes portraits of physical director in 57th Street building; Kathleen Holohan, physical director, Eastside YMCA; Pete Boukalis; Johnny Hays; the resident council.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.