First and Summerfield United Methodist Church

Just across the northwest corner of the New Haven Green stands a brick edifice accentuated by white ionic columns and a towering steeple. Home to First and Summerfield United Methodist Church, the building is one of many places of worship located in and around the New Haven Green. A flight of stairs ascends from the sidewalk to the entrance to the building and vertical panels of stained glass windows decorate the sides. 

John Lovell Lancasterian School

The 1901 Sanborn Map of New Haven and 1911 Atlas of New Haven depict a separate building—a parsonage—located behind the main building, which must have allowed for residential housing of ministers of the church (7,8). But according to the 1923 Sanborn Map, there is a merging of the two buildings, most likely a product of one of the many rebuilding and renovating projects that occurred (9).

The Methodist Society had endured 60 years of persecution, dislocation, disruption and disaster by the time the first building was erected on its current site. As the name suggests, there was a merger that took place in 1981 between the former First United Methodist, founded in 1789 in downtown New Haven, and the Summerfield United Methodist, founded in 1871 and based in the Newhallville neighborhood of New Haven, to give the First and Summerfield United Methodist Church present today (3).

The John Lovell Lancasterian School, a forerunner of New Haven public education, was briefly housed in the related church building located across the street on the green. Unfortunately, due to a great storm in 1821, the building collapsed and the school was forced to relocate (4).

In addition, the church has been a place of shelter for many groups throughout its history. Some of these organizations include the unions Local 34 and Local 35 of the Federation of University Employees, Local 217 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union, Y.M.C.A. day-care programs, the Metropolitan Community non-denominational Church for homosexuals, and immigrants seeking sanctuary (5,6).

The building sits on the corner of College and Elm St. with the Elihu Club to the right and Yale School of Music’s Leigh Hall located behind. Across the street is the northwest corner of the green.