The Endangered 8: 2024
San José's Most Threatened Architectural and Cultural Landmarks
MACSA Youth Center
Location:
660 Sinclair Drive
Date:
Built 1995
Architect:
Steve Yang and Associates
Threat:
Neglect, Redevelopment
The Mexican-American Community Services Agency (MACSA) opened this Eastside youth center with distinctive pre-Columbian design motifs to great fanfare in 1995, with Mercury News architecture critic Alan Hess praising it as “an important building with a lesson worth learning.” With its state-of-the-art classrooms, gymnasium, theater, health clinics, and childcare facilities, the building played a central role in the lives of thousands of Eastside youth and teenagers before its untimely closure in 2015. Now abandoned and slated for possible demolition, overwhelming community support for its preservation has convinced the Alum Rock Union School District, which owns the land, to grant a six-month demolition delay in order to explore restoration alternatives. This reprieve is currently scheduled to expire in August 2024.
MEDIA COVERAGE
San Jose Spotlight, "East San Jose school district seeks partner to save former youth center," Feb. 13, 2024
San Jose Spotlight, "San Jose teacher housing prompts demolition of former youth center," Jan. 20, 2024
Learn More and Take Action!
Read Mercury News architectural critic Alan Hess's description of the building in 1995.
Watch here for information on upcoming community meetings.