On your left, look for the long, tan-brick block of a building with rows of windows and a few tall arched windows near the top floors.
This is Peoria’s YWCA Building, finished in 1928 and designed by Hewitt, Emerson and Gregg... sitting right on the corner at 301 Northeast Jefferson with Fayette. The local YWCA chapter had been around since 1893, but by the late 1920s they’d outgrown their old space, so they pulled off a fundraising sprint: $350,000 in eight days... roughly about $6.5 million today. No bake sale energy there.
When it was dedicated on September 16, 1929, it wasn’t just offices. It was a whole little world: an auditorium, a swimming pool, a chapel, club rooms, and beds for 86 residents. Over the decades, the organization moved on, struggled financially, and ultimately closed in 2012.
But the building didn’t quit. Since 2008 it’s been New Hope Apartments, 79 supportive housing units after an almost $8 million renovation... including apartments built right over the old pool. Even the past had to make room.
When you’re set, Scottish Rite Cathedral is a 7-minute walk heading northwest.
