Despite City Opposition, Yale To Raze York Townhouse

With a $40+billion endowment, Yale could fix the building.
This is an excuse to change the landscape of a human scale block.
There goes the neighborhood.

I didnt know we had a 90 (!) day review period.

Yale can handle that, but how does anybody do business if the review period is 3 months at a minimum?

I hope they can restore this building.

If the City allows demolition, it should require that Yale build 10+ story high, with 5 floors dedicated to housing.

The word on the street for a long time is that Yale is using the demolition of this building as pretext to demolish the adjoining one: 168 York Street (Cafe) aka, one of New Haven's (and Connecticut's) last gay bars which is a gathering space for community at a time when many middle aged demographics are facing deaths of despair due to lack of true community spaces. Yale cannot be honest about this motive: so they will virtue signal with one hand on LGBTQIA+ issues, while they demolish the last safe space.

Former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, used to single out New Haven and Yale by name, for tearing down so much beautiful architecture downtown, and erecting boxes in their stead. He used to even point out that Yale has a School of Architecture, which in the case of this building is yards away.

Downtown New Haven is becoming soulless, as even the Taft was gobbled up my a large management company and all the ephemera and memorabilia that once hung in the lobby as a testament to the Taft's glory days as a landmark hotel was taken off the walls, and junked, as the new Paredigm management referred to it as "old clutter." Class is hard to come by there days, and we see what downtown is becoming with empty store fronts, weed stores, night clubs that come and go like the leaves on autumn trees, dirt bike mayhem, street takeovers, and kid gloves approaches to law enforcement.

Yale will tear down the gay bar next year, citing "safety" and erect, per there words, an "outdoor amenity" (read: parking lot) all while the admin, mayor and students virtue signal about gay rights and the need for safe spaces. The irony is not even bittersweet, it is bitter, and I have asked the New Yorker to write a piece now about Yale's hypocrisy.

And what is the "Yale alder's" take, who is supposed to perennially bridge the "town-gown divide." Oh, my bad: more virtue signaling & resume paddings, as they vote for a cease fire in Gaza, since they don't understand the Constitution.

What the city of New Haven isn't able to maintain and take care of, Yale University will most likely eventually capitalize off of.

Come on guys- the building is ugly. Not original windows, door or steps. Perhaps the electrical? piping all over the front IS original. And the roof and the building are structurally unsound. Just another opportunity to bash Yale again.

The two sites connect and would be a great place for temporary pickleball courts, or a food truck paradise, wrapping around to the cafe seating on Chapel.

CY2, unfortunately the city cannot stop Yale in this case. It owns the property, which is not in a local historic district. If it were in a local district, different law would apply. But it isnt.

EastWest, the delay provision is limited to certain historic buildings. And it does not apply if the local building official has ordered demolition for health or safety reasons, among other things. The 90 days is the period, it is not a minimum.

What a travesty, they have a 1.5B of construction going on and they come up with a stupid mom and pop story so they can demolish a historic gem that should be preserved and protected. It just a matter of time with Yale until they show their true ugly face that disregard their environment. A shame and a great loss.

This makes me so sad. During 2 summers about 35 years ago I sublet the very cool garret apartment in the building that used to sit next to this one before it was torn down for that concrete monstrosity of a parking garage. The bathroom had a tiny window framed with ivy that looked out towards Crown St. Another vestige of the good old days in New Haven lost.

Anybody remember when the owners demolished what was next door to Kresge before the City could act? (By Chapel and Orange Sts). Or how about the historic barge house on the Seawall down in the Cove? The owner claimed he did not know it was historic and the building dept claimed they did not know it was historic.... done deal.... now they overstepped the original setbacks and created a monstrous house that yawns out from the rest of the area in its pompous display of glitz.
Anything goes in NH.... We have Yale owned alders and a Yale owned mayor. If only the buildings were not so ugly and stark.... one could perhaps accept our master's wishes... why even complain?
side musing/////// This is maybe why people take to the streets in juvenile street displays aka "takeovers" ---- the knowledge that we are so very insignificant and impotent in our own cities and towns is driving this attention seeking behavior. We suffer from anomie and some of us thrash about desperately to try find some reason to be alive, even if it is to annoy other drivers...... any thoughts on my image of Yale as metaphor for the BIG BROTHER STATE in miniature downtown?

Yale has pretty much "taken over" the Broadway area.

I feel like I'm on the Yale Campus when I have to drive through it.

Hey union members from Local 35, 34 and 33 remember what Patricia Kane said
when Yale screams, "We're poor, we can't pay you any more!"

It's the principal of the thing - Yale has the money to put it needs and wants first.

It's a class issue. The White ruling class has the money to do (and pay off whoever) whatever it wants short of starting a war on Broadway.

Money talks - wealth gives power and influence to those who have it.

CityYankee2:

You never answer my invitation that we have coffee to discuss our differences, which are many. Perhaps if people like the two of us could join forces to actually do something. Don't you think?

Johnnyc, historic preservation is not just about architectural treasures. Youre right that this is not Center Church on the Green. Instead, it is a contributing structure in a historic district. It is a vernacular building, there are plenty like it in the city, But demolishing it diminishes the character of the neighborhood.

I am neither an architect nor an engineer. The building may in fact be unsalvageable. But in many cases, it is possible to save a buildings façade, erecting a modern structure behind it. In this case, this could be accompanied by replacing the windows with more historically appropriate fenestration.

This is a tough one. It would be nice if yale could save the facade . Having no plan for the properties future development seems odd. Why did Yale buy it if it had no plans for it?

Our history is being destroyed. The architecture from many different styles over different time periods and tastes is what makes New Haven special and unique and walkable. Looming high rises with ugly Lego block construction facades or empty lots do nothing to contribute to our streetscape.
If the city allows Yale and other developers and property owners to destroy these historic buildings, you are allowing the soul of the city to be destroyed. Once lost, they are gone forever.
If you dont like and dont want to care for and maintain historic buildings, dont buy them.
But if you allow Yale to take down these historic buildings instead of restoring them, that not only destroys the character of the neighborhood, it is pillaging our citys history.
If Yale later takes down the building that houses the York St Cafe, then they are destroying a historic safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community. That building has a lovely walled courtyard in the rear of the cafe that is so pleasant to sit and enjoy a drink with friends in.
The city needs to pass a historic buildings and historic neighborhood series of laws that protect these buildings from being lost or irrevocably altered pretty darn quick, or it will become a soulless city with nothing but LEGO block contemporary monstrous high rise buildings that feel intimidating and unpleasant to walk past, and empty lots drawing in illegal dumping and public outdoor toilet use and illegal drug use and prostitution and squatters, and with generic big chains stores with the designation At Yale plastered all over businesses downtown.
If you are an art and architecture student or educator at Yale, I beg you to protest to your university to restore and preserve this building and make whatever structural repairs are needed to restore this building to allow it to be used for generations to come. Yale has the money to fix this building, they just need champions to insist that they do.

I am the architectural historian who many years since prepared the nomination to the National Register of Historic Places for this historic district. When you study a man made landscape, it is the total of all the structures and landscaped spaces that determines whether the district contains enough historic fabric to qualify for the National Register of Historic Places. This building contributes to the streetscape, and is of sufficient age to be historic, even though some elements of the facade have changed since the 1890s. I fear that this is just another ill judged action by Yale--you have to think of what will be there if this building is not. Yale unfortunately has a track record for demolishing historic structures, incrementally eating away at the collection of historic landscapes. Remember the 19th century Italianate house on Trumbull St., once the home of an important Connecticut author, now the parking lot for Yale admissions? The building on the next block of York that once housed J. Press--still a gaping hole in the streetscape? The 1920s Tudoresque building on York St. that once housed Gentree's restaurant, now the bland Loria Center? I could go on and on. This is Yale's missed opportunity to enhance the city.

Hacksaw...CT manufacturing - union or non-union jobs have been fleeing to places like China for decades because the wages there are lower than our NON-UNION jobs.

The reason is that the system of capitalism always goes for the biggest bang for the buck.

Just go to non-union Marshall's in Hamden and you will see that almost all of the holiday stuff is made in countries in Asia. And, you will see that the workers there mostly work-part time making substandard wages that they can't live on. They don't make living wages in most manufacturing jobs in CT either.

The by-product of that is poverty that breeds activities like stealing from stores to get what they need.

In fact, you don't have to even read that book to understand the basic principles of capitalism. The children of the U.S. ruling class, rich White kids, go to PRIVATE schools where they learn their class. They are in the ruling class.

Unions have absolutely nothing to do with a company going abroad because they don't make management decisions, the White bosses do. And the basic rule of capitalism is you have to make more to compete or, in most cases, just to get richer than the other capitalist.

Non-union, Plume and Atwood located in Thomaston was sold decades ago to a Chinese company. My information is that they came into town and actually deconstructed the whole operation. No need for China to steel manufacturing secrets, they just bought operations like this from greedy, in this case, White capitalists.

Non-union, the famous Seth Thomas clocks factory and many other small manufacturing companies in CT have been sold to foreign companies because the White U.S. capitalists need to get the biggest bang for their buck to stay in business elsewhere.

Apple computers is non-union and they moved to places around the globe to make even more.

Blame the unions? Go ahead.

The capitalist system is going down and the White man, the White ruling class knows it.

Mr Speiller is wrong. The city does have legal recourse -- it can sue under the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act to prevent the unreasonable demolition of a building listed on the National Register. Yale has reused buildings in much worse condition in the past. Like the Davies Mansion.

Folks need to take a breath. This building is old, but not particularly attractive. It's already surrounded by parking structures, high-rises, the nearby hospital campus, etc. So it's not like whatever replaces it is going to desecrate a pristine historic neighborhood. And it's not even safe to occupy! Pick your battles. This isn't a huge loss.

Yale has chosen to destroy the historic Yale nature preserve, filled with wetlands, salamanders, frogs, elm trees, healthy birch trees, eagles, bobcats and turtles that are protected. Yale, with its vast resources could have chosen a path of stewardship for both the golf course AND the Yale Nature Preserve. They havent. The Yale Forestry School is silent. So, the Yale Nature Preserve, gifted to Yale in 1926 is being destroyed with plastic carpets and service roads. So yes, this historic brick building and everything else Yale buys or is gifted can be irrevocably altered despite HISTORIC or environmental significance to New Haven.

@cunningham. Well said. This building is old, ugly and falling down. As for the neighborhood, people seem to be ignoring the gargantuan concrete parking monstrosity 10 feet from this building and an ugly modernish building directly across the street. As Kevin rightly pointed out, there are lots of brick townhouses throughout the city. And why do people think a building owner (even one with a huge endowment-after being in existence for 325 years) be forced to rehab a crumbling building?

Tear it down.

Make it a public bathroom and homeless shelter that also dispenses free children's books.

It's called problem-solving.

When I moved here around 2007/8, it was because I found city enchanting. Beautiful architecture, a central Green, a university where musicians practiced on the grass, a carillon that played weekly, free concerts, interesting plays, interesting and funky people and stores and a real diversity that kept activists busy.
My biggest fear has always been that New Haven would become like Stamford, CT - a once interesting place that destroyed itself with a mall that drove out small business for decades, razed innumerable buildings and home of historical and architectural value and instead became a home for corporate transients who would never be part of the city's substance, but mere consumers of its entertainments.
Jackie Robinson made a home there because of the qualities of life available at that time.
New Haven had an even more distinguished history with Yale at its center. But now Yale is the beast that is devouring the soul of the city, one building, one street, one block at a time.
Soon all that made New Haven special will be replaced by expensive, undistinguished high rises for its corporate transients. The only businesses able to afford commercial rents will be national chains.
The interesting people will move on. Some already have.

NewHavenArchitecture, youre right that (1) CEPA has been used to save some historic buildings, (2) this building is a contributing structure to a Register-listed district, and (3) its demolition would be a loss to the city.

But CEPA has been around for more than 50 years. It is extremely uncommon for it to be used to prevent the demolition of a historic structure. You know far better than me how many historic buildings, including contributing structures, have been demolished in the last 50 years. And while CEPA can prevent active demolition, as proposed here, I am unaware of any cases where it has been used to counter demolition by neglect. Yale could, and likely would, let the building deteriorate until demolition is required for public safety.

To all. I am sorry the for my typos.
My hands are arthritic

EastWest, thanks. I do not think the demolition delay requirement is crazy. But it is largely ineffective. It is designed to give preservationists time to persuade the owner not to demolish the building, or to have a third party to buy it. Property transactions take time, and the latter almost never happens. The former is also quite uncommon.

New Haven could create more local preservation districts. But the affected property owners have to vote in favor of the doing so. They are often reluctant to accept the accompanying restrictions on modifications of their property.

I would like to provide some context here so people can understand how things like this are handled from Yale's side. For 2 years, I worked in the 100 College street building, (Alexion), for Winstanley Enterprises, the real estate development and management company that builds, owns and leases many of the buildings in downtown New Haven. In my time of working facilities maintenance there, I was able to see a lot of behind the scenes happenings with the "decision makers" from Yale and Winstanley, and what an eye opening experience it was. To put it simply, Yale doesnt give a damn about what you want. Yale does what it wants to, when it wants to, how it wants to, where it wants to and with whom they want to and the City of New Haven, Winstanley and everyone else around will like it. Period. The word no is not a word that can be spoken to Yale. Yale looks at New Haven and everything in it as their's and anyone that is not involved with Yale or their bottom dollar is irrelevant.
Here's an example of how decisions about buildings in New Haven like this and other buildings they own are made.
When Alexion realized they made a mistake by moving to CT and abruptly left, many of the employess that were laid off, after only being there for less than 2 years, took a lot of the brand new furniture with them. When yale bought up all the space Alexion left behind, (75% of the building), they bought it "as is", meaning all items on the floors come with the property itself, aka furniture. Eventually, someone from Yale noticed lots of furniture missing when they took it over and brought this up to Alexion. Alexion, being a multimillion dollar pharmaceutical company said "no problem! We will replace it all!", and they did just that, for about 100K!! Yale walked in and said, hey thanks for the new furniture.. but it's the wrong shade of blue so we're gonna throw it out.
This York st building is a crusty booger to yale they'll flick away, whether anyone likes it or not. Money talks.

And the article is filled with Yales denials that they have no plans for the site, which is absolute nonsense. Yale doesnt do anything in this city without a long range plan.
The city just takes Yales word that there is no way to save this building, but Yale is paying the contractors to inspect it and say so. Just like they didnt do an independent review of the environmental concerns about the golf course. If Yale has these experts in their pockets, theyre going to give the answers that Yale wants to be given,
The city needs to stop being naive and ask for independent non-Yale affiliated evaluators to verify that we arent being fed a pack of lies while they redesign the golf course and tear down our historical buildings and ruin the character, charm and scale of our streetscape of our little city, (outside the areas where high rises exist already and make sense, and where there are empty lots and nondescript buildings with no architectural style or history.)

Attn New Haven - STOP SELLING OFF NEH HAVEN!!! Yale has no regards for our history. They are not a good neighbor.

I am a life long CT resident, (not for long thank god). 4 generations of my family from East Haven/New Haven. I think 37 years has given me plenty of time to form an educated analysis of New Haven. New Haven is Yale and the crime ridden hood, and that is it. If Yale could building a 20 ft stone wall around the perimeter of it's campus footprint, they would do it in an instant. They never have, nor never will care to be apart of the rest of the community in the New Haven area. They do not give a damn about the areas residents, economy, infrastructure, culture, traditons, history, etc etc. The good ole days of New Haven's past are gone and never coming back. It is not a place that provides any decent qualities of life for people that are not affiliated to Yale. It is a city set up to host people coming to Yale on the short term while at school. You dont put roots down in New Haven anymore if you are a part of the working middleclass. You cut your roots from it and run as far away as possible. Which is basically why New Haven is a microcosm of CT as a whole; not a bad place to live if you are a millionare that live in a seperate reality or if your a leach to society and want to live off the goverment and never contribute to the rest of society or pay taxes or get a job or citizenship. If you fit either of those demograpics, CT and New Haven is your place!! People need to stop wasting time and energy complaining about CT and Yale and realize, no matter how much you care and want it to be better and different, it NEVER will be, and only keep getting worse. Thats why i feel the best thing people could do is leave. Its a lost cause and all of us only have 1 life to live, you get one shot at this life. Why waste it away in an area that is heading in the wrong direction in every way possible. Move to an area that you could be proud to be from that has culture and character that actually reflects its residents. More yale and more crime to come: New Havens doomed future.

Interesting article in YALE DAILY NEWS from a few years ago.

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/09/10/yale-buys-historic-townhouses-on-york-street/

Yale owns a lot of properties all over. A smaller building or property like this I would rather the city have get a local developer to repurpose or do something that would really benefit the city as a whole..

Yale: "Building is not safe to occupy"
Also Yale: "We have more money than most small countries and could literally restore anything if we wanted to"

Shameful. Absolutely shameful.

It would be great to see this entire block of small buildings demolished and replaced with a couple of 40-story towers for graduate students and faculty, to help relieve the housing crisis in New Haven.

But in general, historic buildings like these should be preserved until there is a plan to either reuse/adapt them or replace them with something like a housing tower that's more important to the city. Otherwise the city is often just left with a bunch of empty lots.

There a far older brick buildings all over New England in regular use. The Governors House in my area was built in 1793 and original State Capitol in 1791, both constructed of brick. Yale could certainly afford to rehab this building but wont.

EscapeFromConn: Good for you! Conn. is a mess right now and not likely to get better any time soon. Yale wants to cut down 1500 or so trees so the golf course grass will get more sun - no problem. The same Yale with the green image bemoaning climate change and sea level rise. I thought trees were good for the environment. Oh well, years from now they promise to plant some shrubs to replace the trees. EscapeFromConn: after you move and if/when you travel back to Conn., you will regret not moving sooner.