The Glendale chapter of the YMCA counted 17% of the city as members in 1931 – including a young John Wayne. Here is its stately Spanish colonial home.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 21, 1994

If you’re looking for a master class in architectural vocabulary, look no further than the Glendale YMCA’s nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places. The form introduced me to words and phrases like “muntins,” “mullions,” “stringcourse,” “trefoil,” “rusticated,” “louvered” and “Mosarabic.” I now know the difference between corbel and modillion bracketing. Not since I read Infinite Jest in high school has a single document sent me to the dictionary so often. 

All those fancifully-named decorative bits cohere into a lovely headquarters for the Glendale YMCA. Completed in 1926, it’s a rare example of an institutional building in Glendale built in the Spanish colonial style, and one of very few buildings in Glendale before the 1950s that had four or more stories (see visit #80 for another one, Hotel Glendale). Its size and stateliness bore the mark of the “City Beautiful” movement that was inspiring urban planners to construct more beautiful, impressive civic buildings throughout the country. 

Architect Clarence Jay collaborated on the Glendale YMCA with the firm of Rogers and Stevenson, who also built the Army-Navy YMCA in San Diego. Stevenson was an interesting dude: at a time when many budding architects would tour Europe for design inspiration after their schooling, Stevenson opted for Mexico. You gotta imagine that inspired his affection for Spanish colonial buildings, like the Glendale Y. 

Beyond the building itself, the YMCA as an institution was important to Glendale’s development. The early 20th century was a boom time for community organizations and social clubs, and the YMCA was one of the most active and popular. Many of Glendale’s leading citizens were early members, and part of the Board of Directors. One Board member, Frank L. Fox, donated land to the Y in 1926 to create a camp on Catalina Island for youth and teenagers, which still operates as Camp Fox.

Just how big a deal was the Y in the 1920s? During the fundraising drive for the new building, Glendale’s citizens raised $276,000 in just eight days, more than their target. Before the building was completed in 1926, the nascent Glendale chapter of the YMCA counted some 5000 members (among them was a young Marion Morrison, better known to the world as John Wayne). By 1931, the Glendale Y’s membership had ballooned to 11,500, a pretty impressive stat given that Glendale itself had just under 66,000 people at the time. 

This was a place where you could swim in a beautifully tiled pool, practice your tumbling routine in a tall brick-lined gymnastics room, or attend a luncheon by a local civic organization. Single men could rent an affordable room on one of the upper floors (you still can). In later years, they would add a gym, basketball court and handball court.

Are there swankier places than your local YMCA to swim and play basketball and hold your organization’s gala dinner? For sure. But I admire the fact that a religious organization like the YMCA has held true to its longstanding mission to raise responsible citizens through non-religious means like physical education and community engagement. It’s an approach that this non-young, non-Christian man can get behind. 

Recommended Reading

+Glendale YMCA’s NRHP nomination form

+VERDUGO VIEWS: How a boy named Marion became ‘Duke’ (Glendale News-Press, 2007)

+Glendale YMCA website

+Early Views of Glendale (Water and Power Associates)

+Etan Does LA #74: 28th Street YMCA