September 10, 1921 was a very significant day to the YMCAs of the greater Pittsburgh Area. On that day, the YMCA field meet was held at Lawrence Park in Lawrenceville. In this field meet, different YMCAs from around the surrounding area gathered to compete in athletic competitions, ranging from racing to boxing as they represented their neighborhood. One of those events was the 90-pound boys 50-yard dash, captured in the archived photograph (see Fig. 1). Looking at the image, one of the first things I noticed was the competitors themselves. The boys’ passion for the race is indicated in their facial expressions. The winner has a calm, almost joyful look whereas the loser’s faces are much more tense as they push themselves to go faster. The passion the competitors have for the race indicates their determination to win, so clearly this track and field meet is important to them. The young men were representing their local YMCA branch as they race, so their effort to win illustrated their pride in the YMCA. Looking at the photograph, I got a glimpse of that YMCA community of Pittsburgh in the background. The large crowd indicates local support for the competitors and the organization in general. Seeing the community and sensing the intensity of the competition, I was able to understand the role of the YMCA organization in Pittsburgh. It was a place for young men to meet up and foster friendships- in my experience, competition is a great way to build friendships because you have a shared goal.
Even today, the YMCA continues to play a role in members lives throughout the country. In general, the present-day YMCA is important to neighborhoods because it provides a space for a community to come together through fitness. The organization means different things depending on personal experience. To some YMCA members, it is a public facility that encourages whole body wellness, or the YMCA represents safety and steadfastness, but to others it is a place to work out and build friendships (“What’s Your Story?”). I have my own experience with the YMCA, as I have been going to it since I was about ten years old. To me, it is a place where you can build friendships and grow to love sports. The organization is more than just a gym, for example, the YMCA near me had an indoor and outdoor pool that were open to the public at certain times during the summer, and my family and I often spent our weekends relaxing there. By providing fitness clubs for all levels, scheduled activities, and other services for the community such as babysitting, the YMCA is of use to a lot of the community. It provides a place where residents can meet up for various reasons generally related to physical activity.
The East Liberty YMCA in Pittsburgh was a pillar in the community for over a century, providing a place where young men could live and build friendships. After it closed down, the Ace Hotel was built in the location in 2015. The mission of the Ace Hotel is similar to the YMCA in that it attempts to create a place the community can come together and use (“About Ace Hotel”). The Ace Hotel carries out this goal by catering events such as ReelQ, an LGBTQ+ film festival, opening areas in the Hotel where anyone can come hang out, and having a public restaurant called Whitfield located on the main floor. The Ace Hotel also interacts with the community through art, and you can read about that here. In order to be open to the East Liberty neighborhood, the Ace Hotel has kept much of the original elements of the YMCA in place. For example, the roof of the Hotel still contains a sign for the YMCA (see Fig. 2). Because the YMCA was created with the purpose of being used by the neighborhood residents, the rooms in the YMCA were organized to fulfill this goal. Therefore, even though the Ace Hotel is a fundamentally different organization than the YMCA as it is a business, preserving this room design helps the Ace Hotel in its similar mission of being an asset to the East Liberty community.
The first floor of the East Liberty YMCA consisted of a gym area in the back of the building. The gym was a wooden floor with no furniture reminiscent of an open basketball court. An indoor track circled the top of the room. Today, when you walk into the Hotel, this gym area of the YMCA has had few changes (see Fig. 3). The track is not accessible to the public, but the wide-open court on the first floor has been converted into an open recreation area with a pool table, couches, and different games. The gym of the YMCA needed to be a clear floor so that the members could use it to play a variety of sports. The Ace Hotel is now able to use this design criteria of an uncluttered space to function for the community in a different way. The couches and pool table encourage a wide array of activities from lounging and talking to playing games. However, these fixtures can easily be added or removed from the room given certain design requirements for a particular event. For example, the openness of the room allows it to easily be transformed into a club meeting with chairs and tables, or a volleyball game with a net and a spectator area. Therefore, the room serves as a blank canvas for the community. The spaciousness functions in a new way, instead of providing a large enough area for a gym, the empty space can be transiently designed in a way that the community needs.
The second floor of the East Liberty YMCA consisted of the social hall. This room was where members of the YMCA who lived in the building would eat. The area had long, family style tables that encouraged the young men to interact with one another. A raised stage was available in the front of the room, allowing the members to hold social activities such as plays. The Ace Hotel presently uses this room as the ballroom, and many of the elements are still the same (see Fig. 4). However, the design of the room is repurposed for different usage by the Ace Hotel. For example, the raised stage in the front of the room can be used for events focused on a particular party: such as speakers or instructor-led exercise clubs. The room is minimally decorated and can be used for causal events, but the original chandeliers from the social hall remain, allowing the space to be dressed up for formal occasions. Tables can also be removed or added as necessary. The size of the hall can even be adjusted, with a sliding door that divides it into thirds. All of these features make the space adaptable- the room can be arranged in a way that meets the needs of a particular event. For example, the ballroom is often spruced up for weddings, but it can also be used for clubs such as yoga. The original architecture of the social hall contributed to the YMCA’s purpose of being an asset for the community, as it encouraged member interaction and bonding. Now, although primarily a business, the mission of the Ace Hotel is to also be a functional aid to the community. One way the Hotel reaches out to the East Liberty neighborhood is by offering their services not only to hotel guests, but also to locals. Because of the way it was designed, the ballroom floor can be rented out for a variety of private events. The Ace Hotel also holds its own array of public events such as salsa dancing here for a small fee (“Ace Hotel Event Spaces and Calendar”). Therefore, the room allows the Ace Hotel to operate as a business while serving the community. The ballroom they provide is a useful commodity, and it can be changed in a variety of ways that best fit the needs of the community members.
Though the Ace Hotel attempts to be an open space for the community, the main purpose of the site is a place of business as a hotel. Therefore, the dormitories of the YMCA were transformed into private rooms with few design changes (see Fig. 5). The dormitories meet the needs of the business in terms of providing accommodation for guests, and their layout helps the Ace Hotel indirectly engage with the community. Walking into the rooms, they are reminiscent of college dormitories. The accommodations consist of little more than a bed, bathroom, and closest- there is not much entertainment in the room itself. This was important for the YMCA as it was a community living space. Similar to college dormitories, residents in the YMCA were encouraged to spend most of their time outside of their room in public areas such as the gym, engaging with other members in the organization. Today, the minimal decoration of the rooms is symbolic of the type of hotel Ace is. It does not have the extravagant décor typical of a luxury hotel. Luxury hotels were often fitted with so many extra features such as department stores, that they became known as a city within a city. (Berger, 5). However, the Ace Hotel, while it keeps rooms in excellent shape, does not have extravagant and over the top accommodations for guests. This is because the hotel rooms are not meant to be a tourist destination themselves but rather a resting place after a long day of travel. Therefore, the Ace Hotel promotes community involvement by encouraging customers to explore the city and its attractions rather than stay cooped up in the hotel room.
The Ace Hotel and the YMCA both strive for community involvement, but they go about it in very different ways. The YMCA was and still is primarily a fitness organization. The East Liberty YMCA offered a range of intramural activities such as the field meet in the archival photograph. Present-day YMCAs have a variety of fitness equipment, such as indoor and outdoor pools located in my local YMCA. Therefore, the YMCA strives to involve the community by providing a place to meet up through health-related activities. This is a great way to support the community, after all about 16% of Americans belong to a health organization (International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA)). In line with this goal, rooms in the East Liberty YMCA were designed to serve the neighborhood be providing a space for physical activity and communal living. The Ace Hotel, on the other hand, is not a fitness organization, it is primarily a hospitality business. It uses these spaces of the East Liberty YMCA for a different purpose- to host public and private events. By being able to transform the common areas for a wide variety of events from morning yoga to night DJs, the Ace Hotel is using the rooms for a different use than the YMCA that ultimately has the same purpose- to be functional for the community (“Ace Hotel Events”). The areas of the Ace Hotel cannot be easily defined as the YMCA- they are not primarily for a single activity. This works to the advantage of the Hotel because it makes it more usable. Ace Hotel is not limiting the events that the community could hold, but allowing the community to host whatever they desire and catering the space for them. So, the next time you are in Pittsburgh and want to host a club meeting, plan a wedding, go to dance classes, hold a movie night, or more, consider the Ace Hotel.
Works Cited
90 pounds Boys 50 Yard Dash. 715.211702.CP, 21 Sept, 1921, Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh PA. Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection, AIS.1971.05, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
“About Ace Hotel.” Ace Hotel. www.acehotel.com/about/. Accessed 29 Nov. 2019.
“Ace Hotel Event Spaces and Calendar.” Ace Hotel. www.acehotel.com/pittsburgh/events-and-spaces/calendar/. Accessed 29 Nov. 2019.
Berger, Molly W. Hotel Dreams: Luxury, Technology, and Urban Ambition in America, 1829-1929, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011.
International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA). “What Percent of Americans Belong to Health Clubs?” Sharecare. www.sharecare.com/health/gyms-health-clubs/what-percent-americans-health-clubs. Accessed 29 Nov. 2019
“What’s Your Story?” Y Stories. 2009. static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/454864/21983417/1361383679277/YStories.pdf?token=wDo5zeMzhEcAkJtl9WS3i3QrOYc%3D. Accessed 29 Nov. 2019.