Church Street Between Wall Street and Grove Street-East Side

Sanborn 1886 Map:

1879 Bird's Eye View:

This block was mostly destroyed in the 1930s and the scale has been all but obliterated by the two massive buildings that currently occupy it, the New Haven County Courthouse (1971) on Wall Street and the Century Tower (1990) on Grove.

237 Church Street

Status: Demolished, 1934

Built for: Edward Salisbury, 1829, by Ithiel Town and A. J. Davis
One of Town and Davis' grand early Italianate designs in New Haven, the Salisbury house, built for Yale's first professor of Sanskrit and Arabic, featured a very plain stuccoed façade, a three bay cube plan, simple brackets, and a two story porch with Tuscan columns and brackets. Oddly, the windows were divided in half and featured panels beneath with vertical ridges, a rather eccentric detail. The back of the house had a glassed in conservatory. Salisbury was a noted orientalist who filled his house with his collection of eastern art, and the house was built on a generous piece of property that featured some impressive plantings, including pine trees, a rarity in New Haven. This is probably one of the greatest losses on Church Street. It was torn down in 1934 for a commercial building, which was replaced in the 1970s by the current Brutalist New Haven County Courthouse. The house can be seen here just before its demolition.

247 Church Street

Status: Demolished, 1939

Built for: Joshua Chandler, 1760
This house was not original to this site; originally it stood on the site of the Tontine Hotel further down Church Street, and was moved in the 1820s to this site when the hotel was constructed. The house served as New Haven's coffee house in the 18th century, which was run by Joshua Chandler. William Chandler, his son, was a strong loyalist and fled the US after the revolution. Originally the five bay Colonial style house had a simple porch, which was altered in the 19th century with the addition of a box window. The house was thoroughly documented by HABS a few years before its demolition.

Photo: HABS

251 Church Street

Status: Demolished, 1939

Built for: Charles W. Allen (?), probably 1830s
There's not a ton of information on this house, which may have gone through several changes in its history. I believe it started off as a Federal Style brick house, given the simplicity of the facade and the porch, which is consonant with some other New Haven Federal porches. The house seems to have had its mansard added in 1864, when Charles W. Allen, a fire chief, was living here. When looking from the side, the third floor windows seem far to low to have been built with the mansard roof, leading me to think there was a gabled roof originally. Additionally, there seems to have also been a Colonial Revival makeover in the late 19th or early 20th century, given that the windows in the dormers were replaced with traceried Federal ones and the entrance was enclosed in a Federal door.  The house can be seen to the left of a photograph of the Chandler house here. In the image you can see the house with its Colonial Revival details (no image survives of it in an earlier state). The side wing I only saw in one image. It appears that it may have been added to accommodate a larger staircase, since the windows are oddly positioned (plus arched windows tend to indicate staircases).

255 Church Street

Status: Demolished, ?

Built for: ?, ?
This was some sort of wooden building. Since it has its own address, I am guessing it was a small commercial or manufacturing building associated with the house next door. There are no images of it.

257 Church Street

Status: Demolished, 1939

Built for: ?, probably 1800s-40s
A three story row house in an either Federal or Greek Revival style. It had a somewhat awkward Doric porch with triglyphs in the frieze, a rarity in New Haven. There is little information about the house, but it was clearly impressive in its earlier incarnation. After 1884, an addition with classical pilasters was added to the left hand side.

259 Church Street

Status: Demolished, 1890s?

Built for: ?, probably 1800s-1820s
This certainly looks like a typical three bay gable front Federal house on the Bird's Eye view. Since it appears in 1886, it must have been demolished subsequent to that. The family across the street seems to have bought it and torn it down for a "Swiss Garden" sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It likely looked very similar to 233 Church Street. 

Block Survival Rate: 0/6: 0%

Church Street Between Elm Street and Wall Street-East Side

Sanborn 1886 Map:

1879 Bird's Eye View:

This was once one of New Haven's grandest residential blocks in the downtown and was densely built up. The block was mostly demolished in the late 1920s and early 1930s for the buildings that currently survive. It is noteworthy that in this block you can see most of the styles that characterized 19th century architecture. An aerial view of the area can be seen here.

197 Church Street

Status: Demolished, 1908

Built for: ?, probably 1820s-1850s
This was a brick commercial building attached to the 1668 Richard Perry house on the corner of Elm and Church. It was probably erected, along with the open wooden sheds behind, when the house was converted to commercial uses in the mid-19th century. Like the Perry house, it was demolished in 1908 for the Security Insurance Building, which in turn was demolished in 1927 for the current building. The addition and sheds can be partially seen here.

209 Church Street

Status: Demolished, 1928

Built for: Eli B. Austin, before 1820
A rather impressive Federal/Colonial style house in its detailing (although it's unclear whether some of it is Colonial Revival gilding). This was built for Eli Austin, a grocer, before 1820. It may actually be an 18th century house, given that it is four bays and has dormers, something generally unpopular in New Haven in later periods. The delicate railing on the roof with urns is similar to the Pierpont house on Elm Street. The house was torn down for the Charles W. Scranton Company building, which currently occupies the site (now a Citizen's Bank). The house can partially be seen here.

215 Church Street

Status: Extant, heavily altered, 1940s

Built for: Timothy Higgins Bishop, 1850s
This Italianate house of the 1850s, built for Timothy H. Bishop, actually does survive, though it doesn't look it from the current façade. In the 1940s, the Italianate façade was completely rebuilt as a Colonial Revival company office. If you walk to the rear of the building, you can see the simplified remnants of the original house (including the rear tower with tombstone windows). Originally, it was a typical three bay cube with an Ionic porch, heavy Renaissance window moldings in stone, and a spare entablature with dentils. The only image of the house shows the central window obscured by an Art Deco bay window, however, the house's close resemblance to a drawing by Henry Austin (particularly in the roof pitch and cupola composition) give us a probable means for reconstruction of the central window as a triple window with a pediment above. A similar house is the Perit house on Hillhouse Avenue. Based on the drawing (ironically in a lush sylvan setting) Austin may have had a hand in its design.

Watercolor by Henry Austin

221 Church Street

Status: Demolished, 1925

Built for: Winston J. Trowbridge, 1864
Built a decade after its neighbor, the Winston Trowbridge house shows the greater elaboration in Italianate design seen as the 19th century progressed. Instead of a sedate and spare façade, the Trowbridge house was a three bay cube, but the central bay projected slightly and there were projecting pilasters on the corners. Unlike the "correct" classical porch of the Bishop house, the Trowbridge house has a much more Italianate porch with paired brackets, Tuscan pillars, and an arched opening. The window surrounds as well were less elaborate; instead of carved brackets, they featured simple panel designs. This house was torn down for the Quinnipiack Club building which currently occupies the site.

227 Church Street

Status: Demolished, 1929

Built for: Simeon Baldwin, 1826, by Sidney Mason Stone
This house had a distinguished history as home of one of Connecticut's early governors, Roger Sherman Baldwin, built for his son, Simeon. It was built next to the family's earlier house, number 233, in 1826 as an elaborate Greek Revival house. The plan was a stuccoed three bay cube with central entrance (featuring Temple of the Winds columns), the typical Greek Revival attic boards, and an entrance porch that nearly obscures the central window (a rather unique New Haven feature). Later, Simeon Baldwin seems to have built the Second Empire house that bears his name on Wall Street on the same block. This house was demolished for the Art Deco Southern New England Telephone Company building which currently occupies the site.

233 Church Street

Status: Demolished, 1927

Built for: Roger Sherman Baldwin, before 1824
This was the previous Baldwin house, a typical three bay, gable front, Federal house, somewhat elaborated by Doric guttae that gave it the effect of having shallow brackets. The porch had French Ionic capitals, a step up from the typical Tuscan design. The postcard below shows how it looked when it served as a tearoom. It was torn down for the Southern New England Telephone Company building which currently occupies the site.

Block Survival Rate: .5/6: 8%

Wall Street Between Orange Street and Church Street-North Side

Sanborn 1886 Map:

1879 Bird's Eye View:

25 Wall Street

Status: Demolished, 1940s

Built for: Robert Pierpont, 1850s

This was an impressive, tall Italianate villa with a three bay plan and an off center entrance. Atypically, the house does not have an architrave molding separating the third floor from the first two. The porch was Corinthian with a balustrade and had two side wings with an elaborate hanging bay window. The cupola was removed before its demolition in the 1940s. A partial view can be seen here showing the porch. A better view can be seen here without the cupola and with a greatly reduced eave.

Between 25 and 33, a large Richardsonian Romanesque apartment building was constructed in the 1890s. 

33 Wall Street

Status: Demolished, 1929

Built for: ?, 1830s

An especially well proportioned Greek Revival house of five bays, it is unclear for whom it was built but for most of its history it served as a school (until 1874). It was remodeled with Queen Anne details and turned into apartments in the late 19th century. The house has some especially interesting features, despite the severity of its ornament. First is that the central bay is shallowly recessed, breaking up the façade into a triple mass. The Doric porch contrasted this recess. The house had especially large attic boards with sloping sides, a very common touch in New Haven's Greek Revival houses, seen on the Ingersoll house on Elm Street and the Whitney house nearby on Elm. 

The house on the corner was the Salisbury house, by Ithiel Town. An image of the side seen here can be seen here.

Block Survival Rate: 0/3: 0%

Wall Street Between Orange Street and State Street-North Side

Sanborn 1886 Map:

1879 Bird's Eye View:

The building on the corner of State Street and Wall Street has no photographic evidence. Soon after the Bird's Eye view was created, it would be demolished in the expansion of the Hooker Carriage factory. Hillhouse High School is dealt with on Orange Street. The entire block is now a large parking lot with a nondescript federal office building in the center. 

13 Wall Street

Status: Demolished, 1930s?

Built for: ?, probably 1800-1830

A small ridge front three bay house, typical of the early 19th century. It only has one piece of photographic evidence, but seems to have had a open pediment porch. The house can be seen partially here. A later view can be seen here.

19 Wall Street  

Status: Demolished, 1936

Built for: ?, probably 1800-1820

Between 1880 and 1884, a row of brick houses was between numbers 19-14, as the Sanborn map shows. This house was moved to the rear of the property near the Farmington Canal. In the article detailing the house's demolition, it was noted that it had served as a technical school for stenographers. A portion of the house can be seen here to the right of the school. The later row houses can be seen here.

Block Survival Rate: 0/4: 0%

Wall Street Between Orange Street and Church Street-South Side

Sanborn 1886 Map:

1879 Bird's Eye View:

The Church of the Redeemer is discussed on Orange Street. The house facing Church Street is discussed there.

36 Wall Street

Status: Demolished, 1905

Built for: ?, probably 1800-1820
No photographic evidence survives for this house (though there are images of its successor, a brick Colonial Revival structure built in 1905). It likely was very similar to the house next door at 40 Wall Street. 

40 Wall Street

Status: Demolished, 1940

Built for: Edward Sargent, 1800-1820
This Federal Style, three bay house is of the typical New Haven type with a gable semi-circle window and a simple Tuscan porch. The site is currently a parking lot.

44 Wall Street

Status: Demolished, 1938

Built for: Simeon Baldwin, 1861
This was a rather grand three bay, symmetrical Second Empire house. It's associated with Simeon Baldwin, a governor of Connecticut. The brick house had a pretty standard façade, but it was enlivened by a bracketed porch with a box window above and shallow mansard roofs. Above the bracketed cornice, were a series of rather unique arched dormer window with curving sides and flat moldings on top. The house was torn down for the Southern New England Telephone Company building which currently occupies the site.

Block Survival Rate: 1/5: 20%

Wall Street Between State Street and Orange Street-South Side

Sanborn 1886 Map:

1879 Bird's Eye View:

This block had few buildings with an address on it. The Orange Street corner had the Bowditch house, while the State Street corner had a small triangular building (which survives). The New Haven Folding Chair Company had one façade facing this street. There was also a small workshop, about which I could find no information.

8-10 Wall Street

Status: Demolished, ?

Built for: ?, ?
No photographic evidence survives for these two row houses. Clearly they did not have mansard roofs and were likely three bays. Potentially, they were Greek Revival or Italianate. The Sanborn map seems to indicate a wooden porch stretching across both facades. Without any further evidence, though, I would not venture a reconstruction. 

Block Survival Rate: 2/5: 40%

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%