Asian American Cultural Center

An elegant example of a common housing type in New Haven: "twin," or attached row houses, made of brick and rendered with Italianate details like an elaborate entrance porch and prominent brackets that accentuate the cornice. 295 Crown has belonged to Yale since 1956, and between 1960 and 1965 the building was home to Yale's City Planning Department (which was shuddered by President Kingman Brewster in 1969). Since 1989, the Asian American Cultural Center at Yale has called the building home.

295: 1889 - John M. Peck, treasurer of Peck Bros and Company; 1913 - James and Katherine Ingersoll; 1956 - Yale University

297: 1889 - James T. Hathaway, printer; 1926 - Annie Williston (née Hathaway) and Eugenie Trusdell (née Hathaway); 1956 - Yale University

Both: 1960 - Yale Urban Region Planning Center; 1965 - Yale Psycho-Educational Clinic; 1989 - Yale Asian Community Services (now Asian American Cultural Center)

295 Crown was 0riginally owned by John M. Peck, treasurer of Peck Brothers and Co., a plumbing supply concern, who moved from 163 Crown Street to this building in 1889 (likely the year it was built).

In 1913, Peck sold the building to James D. Ingersoll, a graduate of Yale and Assistant Professor of Latin at the college. Ingersoll and his wife, Katherine, an assistant at the Yale University Library, lived together at 295 Crown until 1920, the year James died. Katherine stayed in the house and took on boards, a common practice for widowed home-owners. She stayed until 1956 when she sold the building to Yale.

Meanwhile, the twin town house at 297 Crown was purchased in 1889 by James T. Hathaway, a printer, who relocated with his wife from their prior residence at 113 York Street. At 297 Crown, they were joined by their daughter, Eugenie, her husband Frank Trusdell, a newspaper writer and editor, and their son Harold (YC 1904).

Frank Trusdell died in 1898 and Harold graduated 1904, but the Hathaways and Eugenie Trusdell remained at 297 Crown and began to take on boarders. In 1920, another Hathaway daughter, Annie Williston, moved in. James Hathaway died on January 6th, 1926 at age 94, and the house title was passed on to Eugenie and Annie, who lived there together until Eugenie’s death on December 10, 1946 (age 90). A year later Annie’s daughter Ruth moved in. They owned the house until 1956, when it was sold to Yale along with its twin.

In 1956, Annie Williston wrote to her daughter, Dorothy, that Yale wanted to purchase the house and thought it would be a good idea since the house wasn’t being used. She stated that she would have liked to give the house to Yale in her father’s name, but was unable to make such a gift due to financial reasons. She included: “I am feeling fine and my dental work is feeling fine,” however she passed away just a few months after sending the letter at the age of 98

The twin town houses was purchased by Yale for $18,000.00 in 1956, which remodeled the houses in 1957. In 1960, the Yale University Urban Region Planning Center (later renamed the Department of City Planning) moved into 295 Crown while 297 remained vacant. At that time, it seems address 297 Crown was decommissioned. Extensive renovations were undertaken in 1963 to alter the interior of the 1st and 2nd floors.

The Yale City Planning department remained there until 1965 when the Yale Psycho-Educational Clinic moved in. This was followed by a prolonged vacancy until 1989 when the Yale Asian Community Services moved in. In 1993 the Native American Cultural Center joined what was then called the Asian American Community Center. The Native American Cultural Center has since moved around the corner to High Street.

Nearby a number of other Yale cultural centers on a relatively quiet and well-landscaped stretch of this sometimes boisterous street. A mix of building types generate a pleasant sense of rhythm and density.

Attached brick row houses with brownstone window headers and lintels and painted wooden brackets supporting a cornice line. Note, as well, the brownstone belt course with square dentils punctuating the building's mass. An Italianate porch with ornamental wooden details provides a gracious welcome to this adaptable building.