On a visit to see the remodeled Penn Station LIRR corridor in February 2023, I was meandering around the area when this tall brick building on West 34th just off 9th Avenue intrigued me, not least because of the plaque in the front whose lettering, honoring William Sloane, has largely worn off and is mostly illegible, unless you want to stand there scrutinizing it for a half hour.
It turns out this ie one of the many repurposed buildings once belonging to the Young Men’s Christian association (YMCA). As the website New York Heritage explains,
Founded in 1930 to provide cheap housing for members of the Armed Forces, the William Sloane House was named after William Sloane (1873-1922), chair of the Army and Navy International Committee through World War I and of the National War Work Council of the YMCA. This building on West 34th Street was the largest YMCA residential program in the city of New York. Designed by New York architects Cross and Cross, the William Sloane house opened with 1,595 rooms, but remodeling and changes in programs eventually reduced the rooms to 1,400. By the 1940s, changing demographics forced the William Sloane to refocus. As the number of servicemen needing housing dwindled, women and girls could stay in the building, and the William Sloane began providing long-term accommodations to college students and welfare recipients. After a fire in 1974 that killed four people and several attempts at fundraising in the 1980s, the William Sloane closed in 1993. The building was eventually purchased for five million dollars and remodeled, becoming the 360 West 34th Street, a building of affordable rental apartments for young professionals new to New York. |
This wasn’t the only building on 34th Street with residences for one sex only. The Webster Apartments, about a block west, admitted and continues to admit just women.
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11/22/23
6 comments
I went there in the 70s to visit a Navy buddy who was also on leave.The rooms were
pretty depressing.You could almost imagine the clank of cell doors banging shut just
like in a jail.About a year or so later the Village People came out with “YMCA” and
“In the Navy”.Boy,that really helped to improve my mood.
It’s unusual how the plaque has worn so much in 93 years. Must have something to do with the type of stone.
When I was 18 I stayed a night at Sloane House with a friend. This would have been in 1969 or 1970. There were bars on the windows even on the upper floors. A scary place.
Happy Thanksgiving, Kevin!
Thanks for all you do to promote and preserve
our precious local history,
cheers,
Renée in Tucson
(former Staten Islander)
Back in the early part of the 20th Century, organizations like the YMCA provided simple and affordable short-term lodgings around the country for folks like the military or people passing through an area. While very “bare bones” they were sufficient for what traveling salesmen and soldiers needed. Over time, people became more sophisticated and simple hotel rooms became available. The rooms at YMCAs evolved into Single Room Occupancy (SRO’s) dwellings. This was not their original intent, and caused complications when New York City laws prohibited evictions. With their original purpose unneeded and the difficulty of operating an SRO, the YMCAs closed their dwelling locations.
The YMCA still operates men’s residences in some cities though it closed down and sold off
the most notorious ones years ago.The fallout and bad p.r. resulting from the Village People
song was immense.One ” Y ” resident reported seeing men going up and down the fire escapes
to the rooms of other men in their quest for romance.