National Register of Historic Places

Boston Young Men's Christian Union

Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Listed
December 9, 1980
Type
Building
Period
Civil War
Ref No.
80000451

About this property

The Boston Young Men's Christian Union is a historic building at 48 Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts and a liberal Protestant youth association. When Unitarians were excluded from the Boston YMCA (which was evangelical) in 1851, a group of Harvard students founded a Christian discussion group, which was incorporated as the Boston YMCU in 1852. In 1873, the organization decided to construct its own building. $270,000 was raised, and construction on the original segment completed in 1875. The building was designed by Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee, constructed in a High Victorian Gothic style, and included ground-level retail. Several additions were made, including in 1956. The building was designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1977 and added to the National Historic Register in 1980. Boston YMCU owned Camp Union, a 600-acre (240 ha) camp, in Greenfield, New Hampshire (1929–1993) (now Barbara C. Harris Camp & Convention Center of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts). From its renovation in 2003 to 2011 it was called the Boylston Street Athletic Club, and later the Boston Union Gym or BYMCU Athletic Club. The Boston Young Men's Christian Union claims to be "America's First Gym". The Massachusetts Commission for the Blind moved out in 2012, and the organization began failing financially. In 2016, plans were announced to redevelop the site as 46 units of affordable housing, in partnership with the Planning Office for Urban Affairs of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Location

48 Boylston St.
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
42.35201, -71.06424

Categories

ARCHITECTURESOCIAL HISTORYPERFORMING ARTS
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

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0 mi
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0.1 mi
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Nearby Battles

Siege of Boston
1775Revolutionary War
0.6 mi

Questions about this property

When was Boston Young Men's Christian Union listed on the National Register?

Boston Young Men's Christian Union was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 9, 1980.

What type of historic resource is Boston Young Men's Christian Union?

Boston Young Men's Christian Union is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Boston Young Men's Christian Union?

The period of significance for Boston Young Men's Christian Union is recorded as the civil_war era.

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