File:Old Central YMCA, Akron, OH - 52995950423.jpg

English: Built in 1929-1931, this Art Deco-style building was designed by Good and Wagner to serve as the Akron Central YMCA, and stands on the block bounded by Bowery Street, State Street, and Water Street in downtown Akron, Ohio, overlooking the old Ohio and Erie Canal and Lock 3 Park. The large and heavily detailed Art Deco edifice towers over downtown, and was, for a time, the largest YMCA in the nation. The YMCA in Akron has a history dating back to 1870, when it was founded, and it consisted of a small space functioning as a reading room on Howard Street. In 1904, the organization moved to the present site of the Mayflower Hotel at State Street and Main Street, where they constructed a five-story building that remained in use until the late 1920s, when the building at Canal Square was completed. The building fell into disrepair during the 1970s, and was shuttered between 1980 and 1986, during which time the building was renovated to update it to more modern standards, while the living space on the upper floors was converted to apartments and offices during the 1980s and 1990s. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and remains a major landmark in the city, and today, the downtown YMCA continues to operate out of the lower floors as a community and fitness center, with the rest of the building, rebranded as Canal Square, housing residential units.