Yale - Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Sterling Law Building, Yale University (1931)

Designed by James Gamble Rogers and built in 1930-1931 at 127 Wall Street in New Haven, the Sterling Law Building is the building of Yale Law School. Modeled on the English Inns of Court, it features a great variety of Gothic architectural detailing. Rising impressively above the rest of the structure, with its rows of Gothic windows, is the Lillian Goldman Law Library. The Sterling Law Building, which occupies one city block, was named for John William Sterling, a corporate attorney and major benefactor to Yale University.

Whitehouse (1799)

The Joseph Battell House, a 1799 mansion off Norfolk Green on the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Estate, has long been known as “Whitehouse,” its name predating that of the White House in Washington, D.C. The house was built by Joseph Battell, a wealthy merchant whose store had become the market center for the region. He built the house for his future bride, Sarah Robbins, daughter of Rev. Ammi Ruhamah Robbins, minister of the Congregational Church next door. One of their sons, Robbins Battell, was born in the house in 1819 and died there in 1895. An 1839 Yale graduate, Robbins Battell was an adviser to Abraham Lincoln, and a benefactor to his town and Yale University. Called by Frederic S. Dennis “the father of modern Norfolk,” Battell was also a composer and art collector, who had a picture gallery at Whitehouse containing the works of many notable American artists. His only daughter, Ellen, was raised in Whitehouse and later lived there with her second husband, Carl Stoeckel. They were great patrons of music, constructing the Music Shed on their Norfolk estate in 1906. Carl Stoeckel died in 1925 and when Ellen died in 1939, she bequeathed the estate as a trust, primarily for the performance of music under the auspices of Yale University. It continues as the home of the Yale Summer School of Music–Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Whitehouse, which has been enlarged and altered over the years, is currently being renovated.

Pierce N. Welch House (1907)

The stuccoed Colonial Revival house at 301 Prospect Street in New Haven was built in 1907 for Pierce Noble Welch. He was Yale graduate (1862) who then studied in Germany. In 1871 Welch became treasurer of the New Haven Rolling Mill Company, which his father, Harmanus M. Welch, had founded. He later became president of the company and in 1889 he succeeded his late father as president of the First National Bank of New Haven. In 1891, Welch and his two sisters donated Harmanus Welch Hall to Yale. He was also president and a director of the Bristol Brass Company, a director of the Bristol Manufacturing Company, a vice-president and director of the New Haven Gas Light Company, and a director of the New Haven Clock Company. Pierce N. Welch, born in 1841, died in Berlin, Germany in 1909. The house was acquired by Yale in 1935 and served as a dormitory and later as offices. It is currently home to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Charles H. Farnam House (1884)

The house of Yale Professor Benjamin Silliman, a chemist and geologist, was built in 1807 and once stood at 28 Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven. In 1871, part of the house was moved to 87 Trumbull Street and other parts were distributed to other locations around the city. In 1884, Charles Henry Farnam, a lawyer, had his house, designed by J. Cleaveland Cady, built on the same site on Hillhouse Avenue. An addition to the house, designed by architect Leoni Robinson, was constructed in 1898. Since 1920, the house has been owned by Yale University and is currently used by the Department of Economics.

Vanderbilt Hall, Yale University (1894)

Vanderbilt Hall at Yale University is a U-shaped dormitory built in 1894. Part of Yale‘s Old Campus, it faces Chapel Street and was designed by Charles C. Haight to resemble a large Tudor gatehouse, as does the same architect’s Phelps Hall, which faces New Haven Green. Vanderbilt Hall replaced South College (Union Hall), built in 1793-1794, which was part of Yale’s famous Brick Row. The impressive building has a lavish interior, built to compete with the fancy private dormitories that lined the opposite side of Chapel Street at the time. Vanderbilt Hall was the gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt II to memorialize his son, William H. Vanderbilt II, who died of typhoid fever while in his junior year at Yale. Major renovations occurred in 1976, when the internal arrangement of the dorm rooms was reorganized. The building was again renovated in 1995-1996 and 2002.

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.