Na Poříčí 12, Cultural center and monument in New Town, Prague, Czech Republic.
Palác YMCA is a reinforced-concrete building in the modern classicism style, designed by Czech architect Eduard Hnilička and opened in 1928. Its six floors held 170 rooms with 300 beds, and the basement housed a 25 × 7 m swimming pool, a dining hall and a steam bath. A paternoster lift links the ground floor to the upper floors.
The YMCA Palace was built in the modernist classicist style to the design of Czech architect Eduard Hnilička and ceremonially opened on 28 April 1928. Until 1941 it housed the headquarters of the Czechoslovak YMCA and the Academic YMCA, whose members took part in the anti-Nazi resistance; the Germans then occupied the building. YMCA was abolished in 1951 and the palace returned to it in 1991.
The building housed the headquarters of the Czechoslovak YMCA, the Prague YMCA and the Academic YMCA, with a dormitory for single men and clubs for young people. In the vestibule, a bust of T. G. Masaryk and two memorial plaques recall the organization's chairmen from 1919 to 1938 and three secretaries who died in the resistance: Rudolf Mareš, Jaroslav Šimsa and Jaroslav Valenta.
The palace stands on Na Poříčí street in Prague's New Town, not the Old Town, a short walk from náměstí Republiky and the Florenc metro and tram stops. It is a working YMCA building, so access to the interior, including the vestibule with the T. G. Masaryk bust, depends on current use; ask at the entrance rather than assuming a visit.
The building's gymnasium on the raised ground floor held a 30 × 13 m hall with a banked running track on the gallery, a rarity in 1920s Prague. In the vestibule, a bust of T. G. Masaryk and two memorial plaques honour YMCA chairmen and three secretaries who died in the resistance.
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