Nicholas Callahan House (1762)

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Dated to 1762 or 1776, the Nicholas Callahan House, on Elm Street in New Haven, faces New Haven Green and is located between the First Methodist Church and Hendrie Hall. Callahan was a loyalist and during the Revolutionary War the house became a meeting place known as Tory Tavern. It was eventually confiscated by the town in 1781. The two-story porch around the house’s front entrance was added in the later nineteenth century and altered again in the twentieth in the Federal style. In 1910, the house was acquired by Elihu, a Yale Senior Society. The following year, the house was remodeled by Everett V. Meeks, who was the head of Yale’s Department of Architecture and later the Dean of Yale’s School of Fine Arts from 1920 to 1947

George Park Fisher House (1865)

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The late Italianate house of Rev. George Park Fisher, on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, was built in 1865. Rev. Fisher was a professor at Yale Divinity School and the author of History of Christian Doctrine (1896), among other books and essays. The house was later rented (1907) and eventually purchased (1910) by Louis H. Bristol. Yale acquired the house in 1935. Since 1977, it has housed Yale’s Economic Growth Center.

Yale Divinity School (1931)

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As Yale University expanded and acquired property along Prospect Street in New Haven, it became possible to design new campus quadrangles. The buildings of the Yale Divinity School were constructed in 1931 and designed by the architectural firm of Delano & Aldrich of New York. While based on Thomas Jefferson‘s plan for the University of Virginia, the Yale Divinity School quadrangle has much harder lines and sharper angles.

Sterling Memorial Library (1927)

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Designed by James Gamble Rogers to resemble a Gothic cathedral, but with a sixteen-story tower of book stacks, Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library is an imposing structure with rich ornamentation. Construction began in 1927 and the building was completed in 1930. There have been various additions made to the library over the years, including the 1968-1971 construction of the underground Cross Campus Library (now renamed the Bass Library). In 1992, the section of High Street in front of the library was closed to vehicles and was landscaped.

Harkness Memorial Tower (1917)

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The most recognizable structure at Yale University is the Harkness Memorial Tower. Designed by James Gamble Rogers, with ornamentation by the sculptor, Lee Lawrie, the Gothic-style tower has long stood as a symbol for Yale. It was constructed between 1917 and 1921 and was donated by Anna M. Harkness in honor of her deceased son, Charles William Harkness, Yale class of 1883. Rodgers, who designed many buildings at Yale in the Collegiate Gothic style, was also the architect for the Harkness family. He said the design for the Tower was inspired by the 15th-century tower of “Boston Stump,” the parish church of Saint Botolph in Boston, England. Apparently, the often told story that Harkness Tower was once the tallest freestanding stone structure in the world is a myth. Inside, the Tower contains the Yale Memorial Carillon, which was originally installed in 1922 and expanded in 1964. It is played by Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs.

Hendrie Hall (1894)

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Hendrie Hall, named in honor of John William Hendrie, was originally built in two sections to house Yale’s Law School. The earlier rear section was built in 1894 and the remainder in 1900. Designed by the architects Cady, Berg & See of New York in the Renaissance Revival style, with a facade resembling a Venetian palazzo, Hendrie Hall was intended to be the first of several grand Yale buildings along Elm Street. In the end, these were never built and the street’s much older wooden houses have survived. Since the Law School moved in 1931, the building has served various purposes and currently houses student music groups and offices.

Also, check out today’s entry at Historic Buildings of Massachusetts: Boston’s Old City Hall of 1865!