YMCA CENTRAL BUILDING, Exeter Hall, Strand, London. An interior view of the reading room in the YMCA's headquarters. The site of Exeter Hall is now occupied by the Strand Palace Hotel. The YMCA was founded in 1844 to provide Christian fellowship for clerks and shop assistants, but quickly expanded to serve a much wider public. Photographed by Bedford Lemere and Co. in July 1907 for the YMCA.