The building was originally constructed as a residential hotel for the men who worked in the old Sellwood Log Mill. It also had a small swimming pool which was decommissioned in the 1940s. In 1910, it became the first branch of the YMCA in Portland. PP&R began teaching classes there in 1918, and the City of Portland purchased the facility in 1920 as its second community center. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, one of only three such designated buildings in the neighborhood. It is also a City of Portland Historic Landmark.