Whose faces are carved into the stone facades of the old YMCA building on 3rd Street in downtown Newark?
– Alan M.
A three-story tall building made of classic, hand-laid red brick stands at the corner of N. 3rd and W. Church streets in downtown Newark. On the 3rd street side, a beautiful Roman arch hand carved in stone juts toward the sidewalk with the letters “Y-M-C-A” above the sculpted archway.
At the base of the arch, atop pillars holding the stone, are more intricate carvings – of faces. Men’s faces smiling or staring down at pedestrians are accompanied by stone sculptures of a ram, wolf, and lion.
Some of the faces seem a little contorted. Others look intimidating, as if protecting the building.
At 43 N. 3rd Street, the faces keep watch as downtown workers and shoppers go about their day.
The carvings’ history goes back to the early days of Newark.
In 1876, the first Young Men’s Christian Association was founded in Newark by banker John Hooper Franklin Sr., who worked with local young men through his Baptist chapel to form the community organization.
The first Newark “Y” was built on land that had been Franklin’s estate at 68 W. Church Street. Today, that space is an office building.
A Newark Advocate story from July 15, 1898, announced that the Newark “Y” would be moving to 43 N. 3rd St. with the construction of the new, brick building. The article reported the need of $5,000 in funds to complete the construction, in hopes for local donations.
Ultimately, that new “Y” was completed with such amenities as a swimming pool, gymnasium, bowling alley, auditorium, classroom, three sponge baths, three showers and more.
The building was constructed by the newly established architecture firm Richards & McCarty – which later became the Richards, McCarty & Bulford architectural firm.
Clarence M. Richards and Joel E. McCarty each arrived in Columbus independently and connected through their shared profession. They founded the firm in the same year the building was scheduled for completion in 1898.
Over the years, the firm designed several prominent structures in Columbus, including Grant Hospital, the Ohio School for the Deaf, Ohio National Bank and the Lazarus Building on South High Street. After 45 years of operation, the firm eventually dissolved, having become one of the oldest architectural firms in the state.
The “Y” in downtown Newark served the community for many years and later moved to new, larger facilities at its current location at 470 W. Church Street.
As for who the faces are or what they represent, “you’d need a time machine to find out,” said Howard Long, executive director of the Licking County Historical Society.
“We don’t think we’ll ever really have the answer to it, other than artist creativity, and it’s beautiful,” he told me. “You look at the pictures there, and they’re just different. It’s not like it doesn’t have our facial structures or things like that. It’s more of a rounded [face] and I just love the fact that someone took the time to do it. Now that took time and thought, I appreciate that.”
Long, who worked at YMCAs in several cities over 34 years, emphasized that much of history is shaped by interpretation, speculation, and the details we manage to preserve. The meaning behind these figures has fallen through the cracks of history.
As is the case with many historic structures, the old “Y” building in downtown Newark has been home to many things since the YMCA moved from it, including a restaurant and bakery. Just down 3rd street, restoration of both the historic Newark Arcade and the Sullivan Building have helped revive downtown and preserve pieces of the community’s history.
Read more: Luster returns to a historic gem on Newark’s Courthouse Square
In each of those restoration projects, old photos helped architects recover and restore architectural details – or explain the history of them, which is something Long would love to have regarding the old YMCA building.
And he fears it will only get more difficult to find those photos in the digital age, because people aren’t printing them and leaving them for future generations.
“We’re worried we’re at a crossroads here with how history is going to be documented, picture-wise,” Long said. “You and 500 people took that same picture, but that picture is not being shared, no. So that’s something where it hits me that, how are things being documented?”
Documentation has been critical to the restoration of the Sullivan Building, where every design choice served a purpose, according to Connie Hawk, who has led the Sullivan Building restoration. Hawk told The Reporting Project in late 2023 how painstaking the process can be when attempting to recreate the building’s historical appearance.
“One hundred years ago, they made terra cotta a lot differently than they do now,” Hawk said. “Because that terra cotta is iconic, and it is like one-of-a-kind, … getting those colors just right, that was big. … Quite a feat.”
While questions remain about the faces on the “Y” building, the history of nearby historic buildings has been preserved in photos and writings by Newark residents long ago.
Thanks for asking away!
Tyler Thompson writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.