Inside this modest, three-story brick building, Joe Frazier – a gold medal winner at the 1964 Olympics and later Heavyweight Champion of the World – trained for his victorious bout against Muhammad Ali. Today, the converted warehouse where Smokin’ Joe perfected his punch is home to a discount furniture store and two floors of vacant space. Thanks to a coalition of preservationists, the gym is now protected from demolition and adverse alterations and well on its way to finding a new use.

Winning historic designation at the local and national level for the building Frazier owned and operated has demonstrated the power of communities to protect the places that tell their diverse stories and has promoted the value of diversity within this roster of our country’s most important historic resources. Designation as a Philadelphia landmark protects the gym from negative alterations and demolition, and National Register listing makes available federal historic tax credits on qualified rehabilitation costs.

Joe Frazier's Gym was also named to the National Trust's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list for 2012.