Ymca Hostel And Shops

The YMCA hostel and shops, located at 2-10 Shakespeare Street in Nottingham, was built in 1937 by architect Cecil Howitt for the YMCA. The building features yellow brick with red brick diaper work and dressings, and has a slate plinth. It has mansard and hipped roofs covered with lead and plain tiles, along with coped gables.

The exterior includes a continuous cornice at the ground floor. The windows are steel-framed casements, with blocked surrounds on the upper floors. The structure is three storeys tall, plus attics, and has a total of 12 windows across three sections. It occupies a corner site, presenting a balanced entrance front to Shakespeare Street, with a short return to Mansfield Road. The front on Shakespeare Street features a projecting central square tower with a hipped roof.

There is a recessed tripartite entrance with overlights beneath a canted flat canopy. Above this entrance, a three-light window extends to the attic level, divided by brick buttresses, and there are mullioned three-light windows on each side. The ground floor, originally clad in vitrolite, has five windows and a door to the left, along with an aluminium shopfront to the right. At the corner, there is a late 20th-century tiled shopfront.

The upper floors display balanced fenestration, creating two nearly symmetrical facades. The left side has seven two-light windows, with five taller two-light windows above. The right side has four two-light windows, with four taller windows above that include inserted single windows. The attics feature 12 box dormers. The angled corner has two bays, displaying the YMCA logo to the left and paired windows to the right. The return to Mansfield Road has renewed shopfronts and regular fenestration above, with four dormers in the attics.

Inside, the ground floor hall features moulded span beams, a cornice, and a roll-moulded proscenium arch.