David Sepulveda Photos
Day or night, the building is a hub of activity.
“Bourse” is French for “stock exchange,” but the image of harried, maniacal traders is the antithesis of what the owners of the new downtown business had in mind when they chose the moniker.
“The Bourse,” said New Haven architect and co-business owner Robert Orr, “was inspired by the early days of the Paris Stock Exchange; a place where people could find support as well as funding, and most importantly, a place where new ideas could be exchanged and find footing.”
With his wife Carol, Orr purchased the turn-of-the-20th-century English Building at 839 Chapel St. seven years ago. The languishing stretch of downtown New Haven has seen better days, but that may be about to change because of the Orrs’ faith and personal investment in the area.
Renovations have been ongoing and the couple has been renting out areas of the building to other businesses. Meanwhile, their own business plan — a mission of sorts — has evolved and taken shape. Carol Orr, an avid sewer since age 7, runs an amazing antiques and collectibles shop on the first floor of the building and will soon be offering sewing classes for all skill levels. In essence, the Orrs are diversifying their real estate portfolio as they explore new ways of capitalizing on the building’s location and potential.
Conceived as an alternative to working at home or conventional office, The Bourse (which rhymes with course) is billed as a “co-working loft.” The Orrs have not only created a handsome physical space, but a sense of place where like-minded people, working independently, can benefit from the synergistic and creative interactions that often result when working in proximity to other talented people. Located on the second floor of the building, The Bourse is now open, providing a “professional cafe-like community and collaboration space” that caters to developers, writers and organizations.
The concept behind The Bourse, according to Orr, is not new — there are hundreds of similar businesses in European cities like London and elsewhere. In greater New Haven, only The Grove, located around the corner from the English Building on Orange Street, compares to The Bourse in spirit and in the notion that a shared space can be an incubator for creativity, networking and new ideas.
Carol and Robert Orr.
Orr is also an adjunct professor at the University of Hartford, where he teaches a graduate course on New Urbanism. He has been touting the viability and importance of livable urban centers since the 1970s, when he and a cadre of like-minded architecture students helped create the first New Urbanism (a term coined in the early 1980s) model in Seaside, Fla., now a desirable resort area. The project drew from the best design practices of successful urban centers around the United States, and was also based on the model of European centers or squares.
“Smart Growth,” an umbrella term that encompasses much of the planning theory of New Urbanism, is based on walkable neighborhoods and controlled growth, eschewing the overreliance on automobiles and the urban sprawl it creates. Citing the recent democratic uprising in Egypt, Orr noted that “the public voice finds its expression in the square — not at the mall. Cities are where civilization cranks forward!”
He believes that today’s young people are looking to cities for a less programmed lifestyle, with the convenience, cultural amenities and work opportunities that aren’t usually available in the suburbs. Orr suggested that things in New Haven, many just under the radar, are coming together in exciting new ways.
In some respects, “The Bourse is like a magnet drawing the metal filings from a variety of directions,” he said.
Fees at The Bourse are based on a time-use membership rate and include lots of amenities: a workspace, cozy lounge and library space, secure lockers, kitchenette, outlets for charging laptops and phones, and secure bike racks. Members can take advantage of a professional mailing address. The business negotiates parking rates, and offers free high-speed Wi-Fi, as well as a printer and fax machine. There’s also the lifeblood of any well-lubricated social working environment: free coffee and tea.
In addition to a fourth floor, which houses a series of dedicated cubicles and work spaces, the second-floor loft space is a generous open stretch with blackboards, pin-up boards, tables, and a bank of windows that were recently installed. Located on the same floor is the “Debate Society” space: a warm, well-lit room with bookshelf-lined walls, sofa, wing chairs, and a grand piano.
The space will serve as an area for peer review, debates, readings, small performances, seminars and presentations, launchings and social gatherings. The multi-purpose room has already hosted numerous events, including Yale Debate Society meetings and an Entrepreneur Boot Camp. A “New Urbanist” roundtable seminar, for stakeholders in the local food movement, is coming up.
A tour of the English Building revealed an interesting mix of businesses. The first floor is home to Carol Orr’s English Building Market—an antiques and collectibles marketplace — and Margot Broom’s “Breathing Room” Yoga Studio, with its own Federal Plaza entrance off Orange Street.
Top: Sarah Aldrich Pilates. Left: Brooke Thomas, N.H. Rolfing. Right: Breathing Room Yoga Studio.
Sarah Aldrich Pilates, LLC and Brooke Thomas’s New Haven Rolfing studio share the second floor with The Bourse. On the third floor, the elevator opens to an alluring water feature, part of the elegantly designed Salon Lulu, a full-service personal care salon. Thom Angelini, the salon’s owner, advertises his place as, “the embodiment of a lifestyle; chic, urban without pretension: a lifestyle that is uniquely New Haven.”
Salon Lulu owner Thom Angelini, in black shirt, and his staff.
Angelini recently relocated his business from the Wooster Square area, while salon manager Ilda Velez said she moved from suburban Milford to enjoy a more urban lifestyle and now resides at the nearby 360 State Street building.
As if to underscore the promise of The Bourse, Angelini said that the salon is “eager to participate in the renaissance of this city. We are influenced by the vitality and energy of downtown and are eager to be part of the changes to come,” he said.
“Kudos to Robert and Carol Orr — they are great landlords and visionaries,” Angelini said.
Once again Dave, you have written an excellent and very informative article. And once again, it makes me toy with the idea of moving back to New Haven. Keep writing. I love reading your what you have to say.