Connecticut Modern Architecture

New Haven Fire Department Headquarters // 1961

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New Haven’s Central Fire Headquarters at 952 Grand Avenue, was constructed in 1961 as part of the Wooster Square Redevelopment Project, a targeted urban renewal plan to revitalize the historic neighborhood. Architect Earl Carlin and his associates, Peter Millard and Paul Pozzi, were hired to design a functional yet streamlined and powerful municipal building to serve as a symbolic gateway into a neighborhood the City wished to revitalize. The fortress-like structure is built of exposed cast-in-place concrete and features strong geometric forms with four corner towers that anchor the main block and vary in height. The fire station’s smooth concrete flanks are scored with subtle vertical grooves which help to provide additional intrigue and depth. Inside, the first level holds space for fire trucks and equipment while the second floor contains office space and the firefighters’ residences. The New Haven Fire Department Headquarters is significant as an early and well-designed example of the often maligned Brutalist style, and as a visual landmark that tells the story of the period of Urban Renewal in New Haven post-war and is holding up quite well!

Town House on the Park // 1964

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By the turn of the 20th century, the growth of industry around Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, forced out the wealthy residents which had lived there, to be replaced by recently arriving Lithuanian, Italian, and Italian-American families who established a thriving immigrant community here, which still exists today. After WWII, suburbanization saw families leaving urban centers, and to attempt to draw back in tax dollars, city officials began to plan for urban renewal areas, where “slum clearance” would redevelop areas with new and modern housing and offices with federal tax dollars. Strong neighborhood support for preservation of the area, paired with a sympathetic Planning Department, saved much of the core of the Wooster Square neighborhood with a few exceptions. The former Greene Street School and a number of residences along Greene Street and Hughes Place were razed in the 1960s and replaced by Town House on the Park, a Mid-Century Modern townhouse development. The project is comprised of thirty-six, three-story dwellings in a rowhouse configuration designed with their ground floor below grade as so to reduce their scale from the street. The development was designed by architect William Mileto and was given an award by House+Home Magazine in 1964 and featured in other publications as a good example of infill housing in a dense urban environment. What do you think about Town House on the Park?

Becton Engineering and Science Center, Yale // 1968

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The Becton Engineering and Science Center at Yale is a behemoth academic building on Prospect Street containing offices, laboratories, a library, and an auditorium for the world-renowned institution. Discussions about a new engineering and science center began in 1965 after a generous donation by Yale alumni, Henry Prentiss Becton, and the University hired famous Modernist architect, Marcel Breuer to design the new building opposite the city’s Grove Street cemetery. For the design, Breuer used precast concrete panels and logical planning, to maximize interior space through the building which required less vertical columns in the floorplates. At the street, an elongated arcade provides views into the interior spaces and serves as a shelter from the weather. The arcade and facade above is supported by stunning buttress-like columns, a Modernist nod to the predominant Gothic buildings and character of Yale’s campus. A landmark example of the Brutalist style, the Becton Center serves as a great, and well-preserved example of an often maligned period of American architecture.

Forest House // 1975

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Photo courtesy of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

While Cornwall, Connecticut is known for its 19th century architecture, there are some amazing Mid-Century Modern houses hidden away on forested lots there. This is the Eric and Anne Bohlin House (aka Forest House) designed by architect Peter Bohlin of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson for his parents as a summer retreat. The residence was completed in 1975 and sited between dense evergreens and bright deciduous woodland in a sparsely developed part of town. Camouflaged among the trees, the green-stained exterior hovers above a boulder-strewn landscape, resting on concrete piers, with large windows to take advantage of the glorious forest views. This is a great example of high-quality, site-specific house designs, which are becoming a rarity in recent years.

Temple Beth Israel, Danielson // 1955

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Temple Beth Israel is a unique, Mid-Century Modern former synagogue, that can be found in the village of Danielson, in the town of Killingly, Connecticut. Ground was broken on the temple in 1951 and the foundation and basement were completed soon-after. Funding was tight and the building remained unfinished for years. During the first years that the congregation used the unfinished synagogue, while continually striving for additional funds to complete the building. A congregation member Mary Riseman’ s son William Riseman, an architect, designed the building and the Riseman family donated the fieldstone for the building from a quarry on their farm. The building was eventually completed in 1961, ten years after its ground-breaking ceremony, with young, recently graduated architect, Maurice Finegold as designer of the interior of the main floor sanctuary and more, completing the project. The congregation, a blend of Orthodox and Conservative adherents, was generally served by itinerant rabbis, often religious students. Dwindling membership forced the congregation to merge with another in nearby Putnam, and the building was eventually sold. A secular preservation society was organized to keep it, which has transformed it into a cultural and historical center, dedicated to preserving the history of the Jewish experience in the area.

Yale University Art Gallery // 1953

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Yale University’s School of Architecture was in the midst transition when Louis Kahn joined the faculty in 1947. The post-war years at Yale trended away from the school’s Beaux-Arts lineage towards the avant-garde, and Modernist principles brought over from European architects. When the University called for a new wing for its existing Venetian Gothic style Art Gallery Building (1928), they obviously had no choice but to make a statement for the future of the school. Architecture professor Louis Kahn worked with Anne Tyng, who was both a professional partner and his “muse”, who heavily influenced his works, including here where she designed the concrete tetrahedral slab ceiling at the interior galleries. As a professor and practicing architect, Kahn hoped for students and visitors would engage with the building, even interior spaces often overlooked design-wise, such as the stairwells. While the facades are fairly minimal in design details, because the attention was paid to the interiors, which provide protection from natural light while also allowing for large floor plates for customizable exhibitions. The structure is Yale’s first true Modernist building on a campus which soon after was dominated by some of the country’s most iconic examples of the style.