Orange Street Between Elm Street and Wall Street-West Side

Sanborn 1886 Map:

1879 Bird's Eye View:

At the southern corner of this block stood the Eli Whitney Jr. house.

170 Orange Street

Status: Demolished, 1940s
Built For: Church of the Messiah, Universalist, 1870s
The Church of the Messiah was built in the late 1870s for a Unitarian universalist congregation in an early Queen Anne style. The beautiful brickwork distinguished this façade, with bands of pressed bricks in a dizzying array of patterns, giving it a crazy-quilt appearance. This elaborate brickwork can be seen all over the city on Queen Anne houses constructed in the 1880s. The banding surrounded a large rose window and, oddly, the designer emphasized a large chimney on the left of the main gable, something which other designers typically avoided. The connected parish house, which can be seen here, was a brick Queen Anne with pointed gables with barge boards and a timbered gable in a medieval style. The church was demolished in the 1940s for parking, and the site is still a parking lot. The neighboring Queen Anne house abutted the parish house and was constructed after 1879.

174 Orange Street

Status: Extant, altered
Built For: Kensington Flat, 1875

Elizabeth Mills Brown calls this New Haven's first apartment building. It was constructed in a Queen Anne style in brick and brownstone like its neighboring church. The façade is somewhat lopsided, with an angled bay on the right and a break in the center bay with a tall arched window. The fifth floor was a later addition, and the cornice is later, with the original design terminating in a brick arcade. The entrance is particularly nice, complete with a later iron cresting.

Corner of Orange Street and Wall Street

Status: Extant, altered
Built For: Church of the Redeemer, 1870
One of New Haven's grandest Gothic churches, the Church of the Redeemer (now Trinity Lutheran Church) is exceptionally well preserved and an exuberant example of the polychromatic Gothic of the 1870s. Designed by David R. Brown, the church is divided on Orange Street into four bays, each with a different elevation and volume, preventing any monotony on the façade; the Wall Street façade has a similar variety of volumes with towers and dramatic elevation changes. No section of the building is exactly alike, with dozens of different window configurations and designs. The polychromatic façade features brick, pinkish brownstone, and light limestone with Eastlake details and elaborate carving; a particularly cool feature is the gilded date mark on the gable and the finely cut names on the entrance porch. The tower originally had four spires that built to the central spire, but these decayed and were removed, giving it an odd silhouette that is far harsher than intended. Images of the interior and its rich finishes can be seen here and here. A larger gallery of images can be seen here.

Block Survival Rate: 2/3: 66%