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YMCA Building (Toledo, Ohio)

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The YMCA Building , now known as 1100 Jefferson or the Court Services Building , is a historic building in downtown Toledo, Ohio . The National Register of Historic Places listed the former Young Men's Christian Association structure in 1982.

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16-737: The Toledo YMCA, originally founded in 1865, needed a larger location based on continued growth. Architect John N. Richards designed the building in 1930 but the Great Depression caused the design to be scaled back and delayed the start of construction until 1934. When it was completed in 1935, the complex was still sizable with 153 bedrooms, chapel, cafeteria, kitchen, laundry room, full-size pool, two full gymnasiums, six handball courts, boxing and exercise rooms, hydrotherapy massage rooms, boys social rooms, game rooms, and an assembly hall. The total cost of construction came to $ 800,000 and included multiple contractors. Hugh Tyler of New York City handled

32-655: A group called the Downtown Athletic Club bought the building with intentions to renovate it. Later, the Lucas County Government converted the space into 140 units of community-based treatment for people with nonviolent felony convictions and substance abuse disorders. In 2018, that program began to move to the Toledo Correctional Institution in phases, so that it could expand to 200 beds. The county regional court services now operate out of

48-415: A two-story base for offices and social spaces with athletics in the back topped by a pair of four-story dormitory towers. Polychrome bricks in various geometric patterns cover the outside of the building including prominent diaper work running along the top the building. Multi-colored clay pan-tile covers all the multiple rooflines above heavy brick cornices . The sides have round oculi windows while

64-632: The Nebraska State Capitol and the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City. When Medary died in 1929, the firm returned to its original name. Their work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics . The firm was the first recorded American employer of French-born American architect Dominique Berninger, who worked there from 1925 to 1932. During this time he served as job captain for their design project of

80-791: The Royal Institute of British Architects , the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada , the Society of Architects of Mexico and the Philippine Institute of Architects . In 1977 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts by Bowling Green State University and in 1980 he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design . Richards was married in 1938 to Norma Helen Haase. They lived in Ottawa Hills , where Richards

96-726: The Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University , New Haven, Connecticut , a project that cost around $ 1,250,000. Louis Kahn and Berninger had met while working at the firm and went on to form the Architectural Research Group (ARG) in Philadelphia, a short-lived collaborative society from 1932 to 1935 before Kahn took a job with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission , while Berninger commenced his own practice in 1933 and later formed

112-583: The building to support the nearby Lucas County Courthouse . In 2017, a new downtown YMCA opened 37 years after the closure of the Central YMCA. That facility at 300 North Summit Street is part of the new ProMedica headquarters complex along the Maumee River . The Palazzo Davanzati of Florence, Italy served as the inspiration for the Romanesque Revival building. The asymmetrical building consists of

128-579: The entrances. John N. Richards John N. Richards FAIA (1904–1982) was an American architect in practice in Toledo, Ohio , from 1940 to 1976. From 1958 to 1960 he was president of the American Institute of Architects . John Noble Richards was born April 23, 1904, in Warren, Ohio . His family moved to Toledo in 1911, where he was educated in the public schools. After his graduation he worked for

144-517: The interior design, Ingalls Stone Company of Bedford, Indiana provided the stone, the Winkle Terra Cotta Company of St. Louis produced the terra cotta based on designs from Parducci Studios of Detroit. The dormitories closed in the 1970s and the YMCA left the rest of the facility in 1980. The group donated their historical records to the archives at Bowling Green State University . In 1981,

160-602: The local architectural firm of Mills, Rhines, Bellman & Nordhoff before moving to Philadelphia , where he attended the architecture school of the University of Pennsylvania . He graduated with a B.Arch. in 1931. While in Philadelphia he worked for architects G. Edwin Brumbaugh , Zantzinger, Borie & Medary and Ritter & Shay before returning to Mills in Toledo in 1932. He would remain with this firm and its successors for

176-509: The partners were Clarence C. Zantzinger , Charles Louis Borie Jr., and Milton Bennett Medary , all Philadelphians. The firm was a launching pad for numerous architects of note, including Dominique Berninger (1898–1949) and Louis Kahn (1901–1974). The firm was established in 1905 as Zantzinger and Borie . Zantzinger and Borie were involved in years of preliminary design work on the Philadelphia Museum of Art . The 1911 commission

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192-399: The rear has blind arcades at the first-floor level. The main entrance facing Jefferson Avenue consists of stone, brick and a tile with tympanum filled with geometric patterns. A stone medallion depicting St. George slaying the dragon is above. The "Boy's Entrance" facing 12th Street mirrors the main entrance but with terra cotta panels. A wrought-iron griffin flag standard is between

208-519: The rest of his career. In 1940 he was made a principal in the firm, and in 1944 it was renamed Bellman, Gillett & Richards to recognize changes in leadership. His associates Lawrence S. Bellman and John Gillett died in 1951 and retired in 1954, respectively, and Richards assumed control of the firm. In 1962 the firm became Richards, Bauer & Moorhead to include Richards' new associates, Orville H. Bauer and Robert C. Moorhead. From Gillett's retirement in 1954 until his own retirement in 1976, Richards

224-401: Was head of the firm. Richards joined the American Institute of Architects in 1935 as a member of the Toledo chapter, and was elected a Fellow in 1955. He served as chapter president and as second and first vice president in the national organization before being elected president in 1958. He was elected to a second term in 1959. After his presidency he was elected to honorary membership in

240-696: Was mayor from 1966 to 1972. After his retirement he and his wife traveled extensively. He died August 26, 1982, at the age of 78. In his memory the Toledo chapter of the AIA honored him with a memorial in the Toledo Botanical Garden in the form of "Small Park With Arches" by Alice Adams . Zantzinger, Borie %26 Medary Zantzinger, Borie and Medary was an American architecture firm that operated from 1905 to 1950 in Philadelphia . It specialized in institutional and civic projects. For most of its existence,

256-403: Was shared between Z&B and Horace Trumbauer . Most of the credit for the final building, completed in 1928, is given to architects Howell Lewis Shay and Julian Abele , both from Trumbauer's firm. After Medary joined in 1910, the firm was renamed Zantzinger, Borie & Medary . The firm collaborated with Paul Philippe Cret for the completed buildings listed below , and on proposals for

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