It is a five-story concrete, masonry, and brick building, designed by Louis E. Jallade and erected in 1911 by the Norcross Brothers.

It occupies a small, irregularly-shaped city block at the upper end of Washington Square, Newport's historic civic center.

The building was constructed in a Beaux Arts style, with limestone finish predominating on the main facades, with some terra cotta paneling.

Mrs. Thomas Emery, a philanthropist from Cincinnati, Ohio, funded its construction to provide services for Navy members when Newport was a major center of the United States Navy.

YMCA closed after the Navy significantly reduced its presence in Newport in 1973.