Young Men's Christian Association (Y.M.C.A), Vanderbilt Hall (1908) (Newport, Rhode Island)

 hotel, restaurant, place with historical importance, YMCA

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George S. Chappell (Erving & Chappell, New York), architect and Swallow & Howes, New York) contractor. The “Y” was built with a generous $100,000 donation by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt (1877-1915) and dedicated to the memory of his father (Cornelius Vanderbilt II 1843 – 1899), who was a supporter of the Y.M.C.A in New York. It was intended to provide a venue for Christian brotherhood and charity for men and was an alternative to the “low theater, the dance hall, the saloon and the dive”.

It included a lobbies, auditorium, dining hall, classrooms, club rooms, dormitory rooms, and a pool. Ground breaking was on August 31, 1908 with the cornerstone laid on November 19, 1908 by Vanderbilt. The dedication was on January 1, 1910 in absentia by Alfred Vanderbilt (by letter read aloud).

When the Newport County YMCA moved to Middletown the building was sold to Doris Duke’s Newport Restoration Foundation for use as a woodworking/carpentry shop. It was sold by the NRF in 1995 for conversion into a hotel, which resulted in a large second wind being added. It has changed hands a number of time since. First in 2009 to Peter De Savary and then in 2010 to Grace Hotels (Vanderbilt Hall Grace).

www.vanderbiltgrace.com/