The YMCA was founded in England in 1844 to promote the spiritual, intellectual and physical welfare of young men. The YMCA was established in Sydney in 1853, with Sir James Fairfax being one of the founders and a continuing supporter over many years. The Association purchased the present site in 1882 and opened their new building in 1885, the rear part of which remains as the Bathurst Street section of the present complex.
By 1907 the YMCA had commissioned Charles Slatyer to design extensions to their building (to the north of their original premises). He designed a six storey building with a basement and roof garden area. The 1907 building was face brick with sandstone trim, designed in the Federation Free style. A seventh floor was added in 1914, eliminating the roof garden area. The surviving early 20th century shopfronts in the Bathurst Street building may also date from this period.
In 1928 there was a move to sell the whole of the earlier building on the corner, but the property was passed in at auction. In the 1950s the Commercial Banking Co purchased the front part of the earlier building (on the corner of Bathurst and Pitt Streets), demolished it and constructed a new building on this part of the site leaving the YMCA building in an L-shaped configuration. The YMCA appears to have ceased occupation of the building about the time of the fire in the Bathurst Street building which occurred in 1975.
[Historical significance] The building was the home of the YMCA in Sydney for nearly 100 years. It is associated with a number of prominent people, including founder Sir James Fairfax and architect Charles Slatyer.
SHR Criteria c)
[Aesthetic significance] Cultural:The Pitt Street section of the YMCA is a fine example of the Federation Free Style, and retains many characteristic elements of the style including the "rising sun" arch above the entrance and early steel framed windows. This building also includes many fine decorative elements of the period, such as moulded plaster ceilings and column capitals, and coloured leadlight glass.
SHR Criteria d)
[Social significance] The building is a physical reminder of the activities and influence of the Young Men's Christian Association in Sydney since 1853. It is also a record of the typical development pattern of the period of its construction, having always had retail uses at street level, with the YMCA activities (accommodation, reading and training rooms, dining areas and accommodation) housed on upper levels.The Pitt Street section of the YMCA is a fine example of the Federation Free Style, and retains many characteristic elements of the style including the "rising sun" arch above the entrance and early steel framed windows. This building also includes many fine decorative elements of the period, such as moulded plaster ceilings and column capitals, and coloured leadlight glass.
General: The YMCA building in Pitt Street should be retained and conserved as a physical reminder of the early use of the site by the YMCA, and as a fine and elaborately decorated example of the Federation Free Style. The building should continue to be used for retail purposes at street level, and should retain an association with the Bathurst Street building. As the most significant interiors occur within the portion of the building closest to the street, the preservation of this portion (the section back to and including the stair lobbies) is particularly desirable. Exterior: Evidence of early shops and building entrances to Pitt Street should be retained. Facades at street level where previously subject to inappropriate alterations should be redesigned in sympathy with earlier surviving elements. Timber and steel framed windows should be preserved and maintained. Early roof structures and roofing should be retained, and later roof coverings replaced with elements replicating the original. Original signage, street numbers, foundation stones and the like should be preserved. Surfaces never intended for painting (face brick and sandstone) should remain unpainted; other painted elements should continue to be painted in appropriate colours. Interior: Early structural members should be preserved. Early elements such as pressed metal and fibrous plaster ceilings, decorative plasterwork, stained glass and joinery should if possible be retained. Major internal spaces such as the stair lobbies, main entrance and reading room should be reconstructed using available evidence, including measuring of water damaged elements prior to removal. Upper floor bedrooms and service areas could be adapted. The building should be retained and conserved. A Heritage Assessment and Heritage Impact Statement, or a Conservation Management Plan, should be prepared for the building prior to any major works being undertaken. There shall be no vertical additions to the building and no alterations to the façade of the building other than to reinstate original features. The principal room layout and planning configuration as well as significant internal original features including ceilings, cornices, joinery, flooring and fireplaces should be retained and conserved. Any additions and alterations should be confined to the rear in areas of less significance, should not be visibly prominent and shall be in accordance with the relevant planning controls.
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