One Century Tower

One Century Tower, which stands at 265 Church St., is a 19-story office tower with a 7-story enclosed parking garage in the back. In the late 1980’s, Konover Associates of West Hartford oversaw the implosion of the Century Building, an eight-story mixed-use low-rise that housed offices, apartments, and first-floor retail and had been developed by then-owner and New Haven resident Michael Koury in 1926. Designed by Cesar Pelli Architects & Associates, an architectural firm based on Chapel Street in New Haven, One Century Tower was built in 1989.



Now one of the tallest buildings in New Haven, the tower stands as a bookend at one terminus of the Church Street financial and institutional district. The modern role of this office tower is interesting in light of the history of the site on which the building stands. The corner of Church and Grove Streets lies along the northeastern edge of New Haven’s original nine squares. In fact, from New Haven’s beginnings Captain Nathaniel Turner, the military commander of the New Haven Colony, owned the land along Church Street between Grove and Wall – a strategic position in the defense of the colony against Indians tribes to the east. Today, the tower’s enormous parking garage invites workers into New Haven from well outside the original nine squares, while the security desk in the lobby turns away those not doing business in the offices above.



The stone facades outside the first-floor People’s Bank and Fidelity Investments offices match the streetscape of Church Street’s institutional buildings, especially the courthouse next door. Meanwhile, the brick that adorns the outside of the upper eighteen floors distinguishes the building from many surrounding buildings, while still blending in with architectural elements prevalent in New Haven.