New Haven

Ingalls Hockey Rink (1957)

The Ingalls Hockey Rink at Yale, designed by Eero Saarinen and built in 1957, is constructed of concrete with a suspended aluminum roof. The building is significant for inaugurating a period of modern architecture construction in New Haven. Ingalls Hockey Rink has also been used for public meetings and two two bombs were set off in the basement on May Day, 1970, during the New Haven Black Panther Trials, The building, also known as the “Yale Whale,” has recently undergone extensive renovations. Here is a video of the interior: (more…)

Elizabeth Apthorp House (1837)

In 1838, Elizabeth Apthorp moved from her first home on New Haven’s Hillhouse Avenue, which she had been sharing with her half-sister, Abigail Whelpley, to another one nearby, again arranged by James Hillhouse and newly completed the year before. The Apthorp House was designed by A.J. Davis. He described the house as an Etruscan Villa, although its overall shape conformed to the Greek Revival style and the original focus of the facade was an Egyptian Revival porch. The building has been constantly added to over the years with new and reused elements in a variety of styles. In the early twentieth century, the house was occupied by the family of former Yale president Timothy Dwight. It is now owned by Yale and is one of the buildings housing the Yale School of Management. It was renovated in 2001.

576 Chapel Street, New Haven (1935)

The Art Deco building at 576 Chapel Street in New Haven actually goes back to 1841-1842, when it was built as a Greek Revival mansion for Henry Lucius Hotchkiss, a manufacturer and president of the L. Candee Rubber Company and other corporations. A third floor was added in 1863 and in 1935 the entire exterior of the building was redone by architect Lester Julianelle.

Phelps Hall, Yale University (1895)

Phelp’s Hall, designed to resemble a massive Tudor gatehouse, was built in 1895 as the grand entry to Yale’s Old Campus. Designed by Charles C. Haight, it was the last structure built along the row of Yale buildings facing New Haven Green, which was once occupied by the Old Brick Row. With the exception of Connecticut Hall, the earliest buildings of the Old Campus, including Brick Row, were replaced in the later nineteenth century, with the Gothic Revival style now dominating the campus.

Henry Farnam House (1871)

The Henry Farnam House, on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, is an 1871 building whose style was completely changed in 1934. The house was originally constructed as an impressive High Victorian Gothic mansion, the first on the street in that style, for Henry Farnam, engineer of the Farmington Canal and a railroad president. Designed by Russell Sturgis, it featured extravagant Gothic details, including turrets, gables and lancet windows. These were all removed and the home converted to a Colonial Revival style after the house became the property of Yale University in 1934. Since 1937, the building has been the residence of Yale’s presidents.

Abigail Whelpley House (1826)

James Abraham Hillhouse, who did so much to develop New Haven’s Hillhouse Avenue in the early nineteenth century, planned a house on the avenue in 1826-1827 for his widowed relative, Mrs. Abigail Whelpley, and her sons. The main Federal-style building may have been moved from elsewhere (dating perhaps to as early as 1800) and Hillhouse also approached architect Ithiel Town to create a new facade for the house, which may or may not have been used. The house was occupied by Noah Porter from 1848 until his death in 1892. Porter was a Yale professor and served as the University’s president from 1871 to 1886. From 1866 to 1870, Porter‘s house was remodeled, by architect Henry Austin, in the fashionable Second Empire style, with a mansard roof and two side porches. Porter‘s daughters inherited the house, which was bequeathed to Yale University in the early twentieth century. At that time, the house was returned to a more Federal appearance and the porches were removed. The building is now home to Yale’s Program in Ethics, Politics and Economics and the Center for International Security Studies.

Old Yale University Art Gallery (1927)

Historic Buildings of Connecticut’s fiftieth entry for New Haven is the old Yale University Art Gallery building, designed by Egerton Swartwout a Yale graduate, in a Gothic style called “Tuscan Romanesque.” Built along Chapel Street in 1927, the Art Gallery is connected to the earlier Street Hall (1864), across High Street, by a distinctive bridge. Swatwout planned a further extension of the building, but this original plan was not completed; instead the museum was expanded in 1953 with the construction of the modern-style new Art Gallery building, designed by Louis I. Kahn. Until recently, the bridge over High Street contained faculty offices, but it will soon be renovated, in the continuation of a Gallery plan which has already resulted in the restoration of the Kahn building. This work will expand the Art Gallery across the bridge and into Street Hall. (more…)