Have you yet peeked into the old Duncan Hotel, now the Graduate on Chapel Street? If not, the New Haven Preservation Trust wants you to know that the old/new pile of bricks still sports Connecticut’s most ancient elevator, pay phones original to the 1894 building, and a return to life of the 200-year-old basement watering hole Old Heidelberg, with original wooden bar and tables.
With this year’s theme for its annual awards “Preservation Is Good Business,” the Trust awarded its Merit Plaque to the Duncan/Graduate redevelopers AJ Capital Partners.
The ceremonies, which also included the NHPT’s annual meeting and a talk by the group Preservation Officer Elizabeth Holt, drew a host of preservationists and supporters Thursday night via the Zoom teleconferencing app. The festivities were hosted by NHPT President Rona Johnston.
Click here for the full citation of the award.
The group’s Landmark Plaque went to a place that also served brewskis from the beginning of the 20th century through the 1960s. That would be The Washington, at 39 Church St. The 1899 building was cited as a contributing structure to the Ninth Square Historic District rich in history and character while successfully serving commercial business purposes.
That richness in part derived from the presence there of Janssen’s Hofbrau Haus in the basement for a run of six of decades.
“For those of us who hang around old buildings,” said architect Michael Goldblum who, with the Hurley Group and The Building Studio (of New York City) did the restoration, “they become more than stuff.”
“You can excavate and then inhabit another life, another era,” he said in brief Zoom remarks. “When we peeled the contemporary layer away, when we saw the rough hewn grates, the romance of the building in its earliest vision, the sequence of spaces, the detailing of these amazing baroque skylights, the symmetrical marbled stairs, well, you can see people, the women going down to the lower level, the men going upstairs into their smoky dens.”
Upper State Street developers Robert and Susan Frew were presented the Margaret Flynt Award for support of preservation and history that lead to enhancing the integrity of community. The evening’s awards presenter, Duo Dickinson, cited the 100 buildings the Frews have designed, developed, and financed — a trifecta of engagement — to renew the neighborhood identity and spirit of Upper State Street.
In her remarks at the end of the evening, Elizabeth Holt reminded participants that preservation is “not about refusing to change but acknowledging change and responding appropriately.” She said that preservation is about the long haul, that there are failures and successes, and that patience is one of the pursuit’s necessary virtues.
Bruce Becker
Design of future “Hotel Marcel” next to IKEA.
The NHPT approaches its 60th anniversary next year. Holt cited in a review of the past year, the failed fight to save the old Webster Bank on Elm Street alongside the long-in-coming preservation of the 1968 Brutalist Pirelli Building. 360 State Street Developer Bruce Becker intends to repurpose the building as a boutique hotel and conference center.
Holt concluded with a bulletin of this year’s watch list of structures in peril. They include 601 Chapel St., a building she described as similar to the early 19th century Pinto House on Orange Street. The place is riven with serious code violations. The Trust, she reported, is having difficulty even making contact with the landlord.
Also at risk of demolition is 131 Sherman Ave., an 1879 building eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Yale New Haven Hospital has in its sights to demolish the building to make way for the construction of a neuroscience medical research center.
Finally, the Bigelow Boiler building, one of the most important extant industrial buildings in the state, has been vacant for decades and loses bricks and roof sections when serious storms like the recent Isaias come our way. Owned by the city, which has marketed it for years as an anchor to the River Street Historic District, the building is teetering on the edge of requiring demolition.
If that happens, the entire historic district might lose its status.
“Preservation is complicated,” said Holt.
“Elizabeth reminds us,” said Rona Johnston, “that we have to stay uncomfortable” both about what has been save and what has failed to be saved, and we need to reach out beyond our circle.
I love when New Haven preserves, moves to a new location, repurposes and remediates it's old, historically and architecturally relevant buildings. Part of what makes a municipality special is the diversity of buildings and the neighborhood feel and character and history. I especially love how New Haven has mixed old with modern buildings when it is done in a way that compliments its neighboring buildings.
There's nothing more painful in architecture than the loss of an architecturally important building to demolition by neglect. When it is impossible to save a building due to contamination or its being structurally unsound, I think it would be great if the buildings more interesting features and useful materials (like old brick and carved wooden trim) could be salvaged and reused in new builds or remodels around the city.