55 Park Street

Built in 2009, 55 Park Street is a laboratory and office building, providing support mainly for the nearby Smilow Cancer Hospital, which is a part of Yale-New Haven Hospital. The whole of this immediate area is medical buildings—Yale-New Haven Hospital, Connecticut Mental Health Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, etc. 55 Park is striking, with a mostly glass exterior of multicolored panels, in the Internationalist style. It looks almost like a patchwork quilt. Occupied mostly by office buildings on its upper levels, it includes a Walgreen on the bottom floor. The block used to be taken up by a series of residential row houses, owned by various New Haven residents.

This building has had only one tenant, Yale-New Haven Health Systeml. But 55 Park Street now takes up what was once 55 Park St, 61 Park Street, 67 Park Street, and 73 Park Street. In 1911, these addresses were all homes owned by John McPartland, Levi Lyons, Margaret O’Brien, and Francis Atwater, respectively. They were built sometime before 1886. 55 Park Street was passed down through the McPartland family, including members Charles and AJ, and seems to have been occasionally rented to students.

55 Park Street, before 2009, was home to a residential building that was, for most of its history, owned by the McPartland family. It was passed down through that family for most of its time, and occasionally was rented to Yale students. There were other homes on the plot as well, which were also knocked down to make room for this large laboratory building. In fact, 55 Park Street now takes up what was once 55 Park St, 61 Park Street, 67 Park Street, and 73 Park Street. In 1911, these addresses were all homes owned by John McPartland, Levi Lyons, Margaret O’Brien, and Francis Atwater, respectively.

The current structure at 55 Park Street, built in 2009, has only had one tenant, which is the Yale-New Haven hospital and a Walgreens that is downstairs. 55 Park Street serves to support Yale-New Haven hospital and specifically the Smilow Cancer Hospital, which was also built in 2009.[1] The Smilow Cancer Hospital is affiliated with Yale Cancer Center, which is the only Comprehensive Cancer Center in southern New England and is one of 41 in the US. Comprehensive Cancer Centers comprise about the top 4% of cancer centers in the US. Yale-New Haven Hospital has been a part of the New Haven community since 1826. The hospital formally became a part of Yale in 1913, formally educating Yale medical students.

The building’s exterior is defined by a series of glass panes, 23 panels high. Though all panels are the same width, they vary in height. Some panels are opaque, in varying tones of green, gray, and blue, while others are clear but tinted. The glass panels are separated by black metal lines. The only exception is the bottom floor, which has floor to ceiling clear windows almost all around, though their width is the same as the panels. The whole of the building’s exterior is smooth, with nothing protruding. Its varying colors and panels make the building look almost like a game of Tetris. Built in 2009, 55 Park St is new and in good shape. It has a fireproof steel base. The building’s style seems to be closest to internationalist.

The inside feels distinctly modern, with open spaces, mostly white but with light-toned wood liberally mixed in.

Beecher and Bennet. New Haven Directory 1961. Vol. 121, n.d.

“History and Heritage - Yale New Haven Hospital.” Accessed February 27, 2018. https://www.ynhh.org/about/hospital-overview/history-heritage.aspx.

“NCI-Designated Cancer Centers.” CgvTopicPage. National Cancer Institute. Accessed February 27, 2018. https://www.cancer.gov/research/nci-role/cancer-centers.

Sandborn Map Company. “New Haven, Connecticut,” 1911 1901.

“Vision Government Solutions.” Accessed February 27, 2018. http://gis.vgsi.com/newhavenct/Parcel.aspx?pid=105202.