Rally to Protect New Haven's Historic Ninth Square

Rally: Friday, July 18, 2008, 12 Noon at 30-36 Crown Street

Three historic buildings on Crown Street, in the heart of New Haven’s Ninth Square National Register District are open to the weather, and have recently been subject to extensive internal demolition. This demolition has been done in the absence of plans for the use and renovation of the buildings. These buildings are important public resources, are irreplaceable, and must be saved for future generations.

A petition drive will be launched at the rally to protect endangered buildings:

26-28 Crown Street built c1875, a commercial block with the good detailing customary of the period – bracketed cornice work, arched cut stone window heads and lintels.

30-36 Crown Street built c1875, a highly unusual curtain wall warehouse building, with exceptionally fine multi-paned windows and composition of its frame and infill construction

40-46 Crown Street, c1910, the S.Z. Field Building, an industrial printing plant fitted out with classical detailing to give it a lively and dignified street façade. (credit for historic photo: New Haven Museum, New Haven Redevelopment Agency Collection, State Street project, file #437, Photographer: Ernest J. Vanacore, August 31, 1966)

For further information and copies of the petition, contact Anstress Farwell, President, New Haven Urban Design League, 129 Church Street Suite 419, New Haven, CT 06510, urbandesignleague@att.net, 203 624 0175; John Herzan, New Haven Preservation Trust, JohnHerzan@nhpt.org, 203 562 5919; or Kathleen Krolak, Town Green Special Services District, kathleen@downtownnewhaven.com, 203 401 4245.

Update 7/17/08: A New Haven Independent article on the buildings, including interviews and discussion of plans for the area, is posted here (a Register article is linked here). The article contains a link to the website of the architectural firm (Garvin Design Group), which if you click on "portfolio," "residential" and "Ninth Square," offers views of what adjacent planned residential structures might look like when built. The text reads:

"Anchoring the final block along Crown Street in New Haven's Ninth Square Historic District, this project seeks to continue the recent infusion of housing in this once struggling urban area. Three existing 19th & mid-20th-century warehouse and commercial structures will undergo extensive historic upfits as they are converted into one and two bedroom apartments. Commercial space at the ground level will help spur a revitalized urban experience. The surrounding alleys and peripheral ones [DNH: one of which, incidentally, would make an amazing urban "stage" for outdoor concerts or dining] will be converted into courtyards connecting the inner-block to the activity on the street. Accompanying the existing structures will be a new 5-story apartment building offering an additional 44 one and two bedroom apartment units to the eager public. Industrial contenxtual influences have shaped this residential project which promises to offer great views of the Ninth Square community. Offering diversity to the associated apartment development across Crown Street, is a 6 town home complex which joins its neighbor in the rebirth of this New Haven, CT historic district.... Upper level terraces and expansive glass will further the industrial language of the area's architectural heritage."

Update 7/19/08: The rally was highly successful and an online petition has been launched. See this post for information and updates.