Building the Standard: The Architecture of the Whiting Memorial Community House

Gwen Stricker, August 2022

The Whiting Community Center, now occupied by the YMCA, is a sturdy brick building that Whiting residents know well. A consistent landmark in the city since its construction in 1923, the building speaks to the strength of community in our small, lakeside town. The history of the Whiting Community Center is rooted in the overall history of Whiting’s economic development as a vital oil city, and in many ways it continues to serve its original intended purpose as a recreation center welcoming any and all Whiting residents.

The Standard Oil Company, John D. Rockefeller, and John. D. Rockefeller Jr. collectively donated the half-million dollars needed to build what was originally called the Whiting Memorial Community House. The philanthropy of the Rockefeller family is well documented in the history of United States industrialism, and this building is part of the story. Private philanthropic activities greatly influenced architecture at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, and industrialists like Rockefeller were concerned with the aesthetics of small towns across the United States, believing that beautiful architecture would shape the cultural sensibilities of the country’s working class population.

The Whiting Memorial Community House was not the first community building funded by John D. Rockefeller, and it would not be the last. He allocated over $500 million of funding to various cultural and educational causes during his lifetime, a public endowment that truly cannot be overstated.[1] The impact of industrialist philanthropy is vast, and their public gifts had architectural and aesthetic implications for cities of varying sizes across the United States. This era of philanthropy focused largely on cultural capital, providing communities with institutions that were believed to help them become more civil members of society. This goal is clearly outlined in Andrew Carnegie’s 1900 book Gospel of Wealth where he explains that providing funds for meeting halls, universities, libraries, and public parks was the best use of surplus wealth. Carnegie’s philanthropic legacy persists in the nearly 1,700 public libraries constructed across the country using his donated wealth, including our own Whiting Public Library built in 1906 on a site donated by John D. Rockefeller. This breed of industrialist had immense influence on the architectural ideals of the era just after the Gilded Age in the United States.

The Standard Oil Company retained architects Walter Francis Shattuck and Robert W. Layer to design what would become the Whiting Memorial Community House. The team had plenty of experience designing community houses prior to their proposal for the Whiting Memorial Community House, evidenced by more than 200 designs for YMCA and YWCA buildings across the United States. Prior to this building, the pair of architects were also working with a man named Harry Henry Hussey (1882-1967). The chronology of the three architect’s work together is slightly muddled, as it seems Hussey left the firm around the 1920s. Hussey & Shattuck were credited with most of the firm’s YMCA work, but it was reported that Layer led the firm for 6 years prior to opening his own practice in 1915.[2] Hussey specifically gained a bad reputation with the American Institute of Architects over accusations of favoritism being attributed to his awards of YMCA architecture and frustrations over the recycling of typical architectural drawings to cut costs and expedite construction.[3] Oddly enough, the architects designed work in China, including the Peking Union Medical College. Hussey traveled to China in 1911 with the YMCA to design multiple public institutions. These designs exhibit similarities between the Whiting Memorial Community House, specifically the terra cotta tile roof.

Regardless of the ties between Hussey, Shattuck, and Layer, Whiting’s new building was received with great fanfare. Mayor Walter Schrage held an opening ceremony for the whole town to witness the dedication of the building on November 12, 1923. American Legion Post 80 provided a memorial placard to outline the building’s memorialization to the veterans of World War I, and Post member Leo Mulva conducted the flag raising ceremony. Mayor Schrage announced that Whiting’s Armistice Day celebrations, which traditionally were held on November 11, would be celebrated in tandem with the opening of the Community House the following day. In true Whiting fashion, a parade preceded the opening ceremony featuring music performed by the Standard Oil Company’s band.[4] When it opened, it was reported as being, “...the finest community house in the United States.”[5]

The building’s architecture was described as, “...an adaptation of the Southern Italian Style.” Some architectural features and materials certainly harken to Italian and Spanish architecture, largely evidenced by the clay tile roof and thin, arched windows. However, the form of the building speaks a slightly different language, taking cues from the Prairie Style that was gaining traction in Chicago at the time. This connection is further solidified by Shattuck’s position with the Armor Institute of Technology (the predecessor to the Illinois Institute of Technology) as a Professor of Architecture for The Chicago School of Architecture from about 1911 to 1916.[6] Buildings throughout Chicago such as the South Shore Cultural Center, the 63rd Street Beach House, and many other public buildings showcase similar dark red brick or stone with low, hipped roofs and overhanging eaves. While these characteristics have their roots in Italian, Spanish, and Mediterranean Revivals, their wide popularity as architectural forms in the Chicago and Northwest Indiana region aligns more with the evolution of the Prairie Style.

The interior layout of the spaces within the Whiting Memorial Community House was also applauded as a valuable example of flexibility in design. Newspapers excitedly described the zoned plan that provided multiple means of access to the various rooms of the building, creating a highly efficient and flexible arrangement. A 1,000 seat auditorium, a large reception lobby, a social / club room, and billiard room were all accessible from the east entrance. Around the corner were entrances to two different gymnasium spaces and the pool. The lower level held locker rooms and the infamous eight-lane bowling alley, which existed in largely its original condition until the building was renovated to accommodate the YMCA in 2015. The second floor housed the Memorial Hall and several meeting and administrative rooms for use by the American Legion. The architects even included a five-room apartment on the fourth floor for the building superintendent.

Architects Shattuck & Layer were beckoned back to Whiting four years after the Community Center was completed to design the Plymouth Congregational Church on the corner of 119th Street and Stanton Avenue. As far as could be discerned from available resources, this is the only religious structure the architects ever designed. Similar to the Community Center by way of its brick facade, the building differs from their previous Whiting design as a reserved, Gothic Revival church, or as the newspapers referred to it, a “Tudor Gothic” design. Reserved ornamentation on the exterior leaves the architectural interest to the structural brick buttresses and stained glass windows that distinguish the building as a recognizable place of worship.

The success of the Community House was lauded for years to come. An article from 1925 stated that Whiting, while being the smallest city in Lake County at 17,000 residents, was spending the most money on community programs, more than $40,000 annually.[7] Decades later in 1949, the Center was still seeing nearly 400,000 visitors a year from around the region.[8] The Community Center continued to thrive due largely to Standard Oil’s commitment to funding maintenance on the building throughout the years, relieving the city and taxpayers of that responsibility. The building was used as a starting point for Whiting’s annual Halloween parade,  hosted competitions for a number of sports and activities, housed the annual flower show starting in 1925, and even put on a city-wide pet show. The residents of Whiting over the last nearly 100 years have certainly put the landmark building to good use.

“The Community House… dedicated to the memory of those who served the country in the World War… This memorial will not only honor the dead, but stand as a most practical means of inspiration for the living. Here in this peoples’ house of play, of friendship, of neighborliness, men may mingle with their fellows as they make themselves better fit, physically, mentally, and morally, for tasks of higher citizenship and service.” - A.J. Parkin, manager of the Community Service

[1] The total amount of $500,000,000 is worth approximately over $10 billion in today’s money.

[2] Construction News Volume 39 No. 1 January 2, 1915.

[3] Edited by Nina Mjagkij and Margaret Spratt. Men and Women Adrift: The YMCA and YWCA in the City. New York University Press: New York and London (1997). 50-51

[4] “Whiting Dedicates Memorial Building” The Tribune (Seymore, Indiana) 12 Nov 2023.

[5] “Memorial Community House, Gift.” Chicago Tribune 12 Nov 1923

[6] Bulletin of Armor Institute of Technology. Chicago: Armor Institute of Technology Press (1911), 99.

[7] “Community Service is Carried Out in this Region more Fully than Elsewhere,” 1925 newspaper unknown. WRHS Archival Collection.

[8] “The Lesson of the Whiting Community Center” 1949 newspaper unknown. WRHS Archival Collection.