First New Haven National Bank

The First New Haven National Bank Building is a modern, masonry and steel, 8 story building on the corner of Chapel and George Streets in New Haven. The simple design of two towers, one clad in granite and the other in glass, was Robert Orr’s winning design for the former home of the New Haven First National Bank (“First New Haven National Bank”). Situated in the 9th square of the New Haven grid, the building is nearest to the Yale Health Center, the Knights of Columbus Building and the New Haven Connector (Maynard). Though originally built in 1961 for the increasingly powerful First New Haven National Bank Group, the building is currently used as office space for various organizations due to the bank’s closure. The most notable of these tenants are the US Consulate for Ecuador and the Yale Center for Outcomes, Research and Evaluations. During the period of redevelopment in the 1950’s and 60’s in New Haven, most of the land near the plot of 1 Church Street was being leased, however the economic power of the First New Haven National Bank as the primary lender for redevelopment positioned the organization well to purchase the lot for their headquarters (Domhoff).