Knights of Columbus Museum

The Knights of Columbus Museum, formerly the Community Services Building, is one of New Haven’s most distinctive, modernist buildings. Its brutalist style has resulted in a plethora of clear forms and shapes that cascade up to the corner of George & State Streets. The hard concrete positions the building as a harsh-seeming island in a sea of asphalt parking, a condition that has afflicted the site ever since the New Haven Coliseum was demolished in 2007 [23]. Yet the main entrance offers an elegant staircase, with smooth curves that accent the elevated main floor, where retrofitted exhibitions designed by Kevin Roche make for an uneasy, yet ultimately satisfying relationship with the building’s original interior.

The building is monumental, but its site should be considered second in importance only to the Green. The connection of the nine squares to the harbor, the funneling of railways, the power of industry, and a few forgotten secrets make this site one you shouldn’t overlook.

Inauguration & First Few Years (as of 1970):

ARC New Haven

Beers Clifford Guidance Clinic: Research Department

Community Council of Greater New Haven

Community Schools Division

Connecticut Trail Council of Girl Scouts, Inc.

Department of Education: Division of Vocational Rehabilitation

Department of Pupil Personnel & Special Education Services

Family Service of New Haven, Inc.

Group Work Program

Homemaker Services Bureau of Greater New Haven, Inc.

Morton J. Loeb Dental Clinic, Inc.

New Haven Foundation

New Haven Health Department & Clinics

One State Street Condominium, Inc.

Recreation Program

Summer School Program

Travelers Aid Society of New Haven

United Fund of Greater New Haven, Inc.

Urban League of Greater New Haven

Visiting Nurse Association of Greater New Haven

Volunteer Services Bureau

3rd Floor Cafeteria

Meeting Rooms A-F

1972:

ARC New Haven

Beers Clifford Guidance Clinic

Bureau of Homemaker Services of Greater New Haven Inc.

Community Schools Division

Connecticut Trail Council of Girl Scouts, Inc.

Department of Education: Division of Vocational Rehabilitation

Department of Pupil Personnel and Special Educational Services

Family Service of New Haven, Inc.

Group Work Program

Morton J. Loeb Dental Clinic

New Haven Foundation

New Haven Health Department & Clinics

One State Street Condominium, Inc.

Pupil Services Division

Recreation Program

Summer School Program

Travelers Aid Society of New Haven

United Way of Greater New Haven

Urban League of Greater New Haven

Visiting Nurse Association of New Haven

Work Study Program

3rd Floor Cafeteria

Meeting Rooms A-F

1976

ARC New Haven

Association of Community Health Service Agencies

Beers Clifford Guidance Clinic

Cerebral Palsy Association of Connecticut, Inc.

Community Schools Division

Connecticut Trail Council of Girl Scouts, Inc.

Department of Education: Division of Vocational Rehabilitation

Department of Pupil Personnel and Special Educational Services

Family Counseling of Greater New Haven, Inc.

Homemaker Services Bureau of Greater New Haven, Inc.

Morton J. Loeb Dental Clinic, Inc.

New Haven Foundation

New Haven Health Department & Clinics

One State Street Condominium, Inc.

Pupil Personnel Services

Travelers Aid Society of New Haven, Inc.

Urban League of Greater New Haven

United Way of Greater New Haven

Visiting Nurse Association of New Haven

Work Study Program

3rd Floor Cafeteria

Meeting Rooms A-F

1980

ARC New Haven

Association of Community Health Service Agencies

Beers Clifford Guidance Clinic

Connecticut Trail Council of Girl Scouts, Inc.

Department of Education: Division of Vocational Rehabilitation

Edmund H. Futterman, MD

Family Counseling of Greater New Haven, Inc.

Homemakers Service Bureau of Greater New Haven, Inc.

Morton J. Loeb Dental Clinic, Inc.

New Haven Foundation

New Haven Health Department Clinics

One State Street Condominium, Inc.

Pupil Personnel Services

Travelers Aid Society of New Haven, Inc.

United Way of Greater New Haven

Urban League of Greater New Haven

Visiting Nurse Association of New Haven, Inc.

Work Study Program

(One Office Vacant)

1990

City of New Haven

Family Counseling of Greater New Haven, Inc.

Healthy Start

Info Line - South Central

New Haven Foundation

State of Connecticut

Travelers Aid Society of New Haven, Inc..

United Way of Greater New Haven, Inc.

Visiting Nurse Association of South Central Connecticut

1994

CT State Education Department

Family Counseling of Greater New Haven, Inc.

Family Reunification (of Greater New Haven?)

Healthy Start

Institute for Family

International Garment Workers

New Haven Elderly Services

New Haven Family SVC

New Haven Health Department

New Haven Measures

Response Ability VNA

Richard E. Brown III

Travelers Aid Society of New Haven, Inc.

United Way of Greater New Haven, Inc.

Urban League of Greater New Haven

Visiting Nurse Association of South Central Connecticut

YMCA of New Haven

1995

Knights of Columbus Offices

Institute for Family

2001

Knights of Columbus Museum (opened this year, still open today)

Equally as fascinating as the building’s design and use is the Community Service Building’s site. I defend the proposition that this site is the most historically important site in New Haven after the Green. To understand why, one must travel back to New Haven’s original nine square plan. With biblical origins, Vincent Scully calls the vision of New Haven: “the nine square city by the sea, the red mountain flaring. It is the new Jerusalem, the most perfect of all Puritan towns” [22].

“Most perfect”, perhaps, but if there was one issue with this “nine square city by the sea,” it was that none of the nine squares touched the sea, aka New Haven Harbor. Douglas Rae confirms in CITY: Urbanism and Its End, that “the dominant form of urban promise was the harbor city” [14]. Water was also a necessity for travel in the colonial era. Thus, despite being only a few minutes walk to the water, the nine squares had to be connected to New Haven Harbor via road. It should then be no surprise that some of the earliest concentrations of development in the Elm City were along the strip of land that led from the southeastern corner of the nine squares (State & George) to the harbor [43]. This route bordered one of the early streams of the city, which paralleled State Street [43]. Our site’s inception is credited to a need of mobility, a theme that will define the site for its lifetime.

As far back as 1641, such notable residents as Thomas Trowbridge had their homes along this vital site [43]. Trowbridge, one of the first settlers of New Haven, helped establish the first Congregational Church, but, due to tax evasion, had to escape back to England. His children, and his legacy, were left in New Haven [1]. His family would occupy the State Street area into the early 1800s [44].

The strip of land connecting the nine squares to the harbor soon became a street, called “Fleet Street” [44]. Not only did it connect to the harbor, but also to the largest piece of waterfront infrastructure at the time: Long Wharf. With development starting in 1754, the wharf was, essentially, an extension of Fleet Street [21]. By 1851, a new form of transit highlighted the importance of the CSB site: the railroad. Skirting Fleet Street and replacing the stream that had been there in the 1600s, the railroad formed the permanent eastern border of the contemporary site [44]. Around this time, New Haven expanded eastward with streets such as Fair and Water Street, creating the northern and southern borders of the site, respectively [44]. Water Street was named because at the time, it was on the water. The CSB site, now complete, had an irregular shape due to the curved railway and angled Fleet Street. The site had also densified, with a solid block of buildings stretching along the Fleet Street between Fair and Water [44]. At the intersection of Fleet and Water, a square had been created with New Haven Harbor and Long Wharf as its southern border [44]. By 1879 the introduction of the streetcar had further increased the importance of the site: Custom House Square was along a prominent trolley route: connecting downtown to the train station [42]. Fleet Street had also been erased: it was made a continuation of State St. [42].

The site’s proximity to the harbor would not last. The railroads built infill into the harbor, allowing for a larger staging area. By 1886, the shoreline had already moved farther away from Custom House Square and the site [45].

At the same time, the era of industrialization swept the Elm City, and due to the site’s prominent position at the center of water and land transportation, it naturally became a focal point for industry. In 1886, the CSB site contained storage houses, wholesale grocers, vinegar works and tin shops. A. C. Blenner & Company had a Pickle Factory right on State [45]. Larger factories couldn’t be built due to the site’s irregular shape. Across the street, the New Haven Baking Company and W. M. Hull & Son Brewery operated far bigger plants [45].

The site was also becoming mixed use: restaurants, shops, and residences could be found [45]. Mobility would continue to be a reoccurring theme for the site, as in 1906, another feature of the site developed: the trolley viaduct. Announced in 1906 and built in 1907, the concrete viaduct carried streetcars, and only streetcars, parallel to State St., avoiding the traffic of the mixed street [16, 18]. Few records exist of this unique piece of infrastructure.

The viaduct came at a good time. By 1913, the street was absolutely packed. On the block between Water and Fair Streets, multiple barbershops, saloons, restaurants, and hotels had popped up. The industrial might of the site, however, had not been lost. Miner Read & Tucker Wholesale Grocers was one of the most prominent companies in the site proper, but besides them, there was Sulzberger & Sons Wholesale Beef, The Cudahy Packing Company, and the New Haven Tobacco Company [29]. On Fair Street, between State and the viaduct, one could find the Armour & Co, selling wholesale provisions and “etc” [29].

This lively nature of the site would continue for quite some time. In 1924, existing businesses had expanded even further: Armour & Co had doubled their size by building underneath the streetcar viaduct; Miner, Read & Tullock now dominated the corner of State & Water; two new wholesale beef houses had opened; a printing shop had come to be; shops continued to thrive; and a little coffee roasting shop squeezed itself in between two of the large wholesale suppliers [46].

As 1930 rolled by, the area stayed pretty similar to how it had been before. Miner, Read & Tucker; The Cudahy Packing Company; Armour & Co all remained, but a new type of store arrived: auto supplies [30]. A few vacancies also began to pop up. By 1940, much was the same: the same industry, the same vacancies, and the same car shops [30]. The Standard Beef Company as well as Wilson & Company were new names, but the function of the site remained the same: industry with some mixed retail [30]. The Central Cold Storage Corporation opened next to Armour & Co [31]. But the automobile was gaining traction in the American psyche, and slowly, downtowns were becoming obsolete. In 1950 more automobile parts stores appeared, as did vacancies [32]. New Haven’s trolley system had been replaced with buses in 1948. It is presumed that the viaduct went out of service with it [27]. Central Cold Storage, Armor & Co., and the rest of the major companies remained as they were [32].

By 1960, all had changed. Miner, Read & Tucker; The Cudahy Packing Company; and Armour & Co. were gone [33]. There were more vacancies than ever before [33]. The trolley viaduct had been converted into a one-way road to complement State Street [17]. A few food manufacturers remained, but even the automobile shops had left [33]. Downtown, facing growing competition from the automobile suburbs, was beginning to be perceived as obsolete. In 1964, the only original company left was the Standard Beef Company [34]. Nearly half the buildings were vacant [34]. Central Cold Storage remained [35].

The site would be skirted to its south by the Oak Street Connector, a destructive, failed highway project that originally intended to go the Naugatuck Valley, but instead ended abruptly at York Street, destroying 350 buildings and displacing 850 families [17].

By 1965, all of the buildings on site had been cleared of occupancy [35]. Richard Lee’s urban renewal program was in full swing. The wrecking balls laid waste to the entire area, from the railroad tracks as far as Temple Street. More families were displaced, and a minority neighborhood was completely obliterated. Yet, the Central Cold Storage remained [35]. It would persist until 1972, the same year the New Haven Coliseum was finished, when the final remains of 1 State Street’s site’s industrial past would be left vacant and eventually erased [37].

But how to reconcile the associated destruction of Oak Street with the construction of the Community Services Building? Whereas the utility of what replaced Oak Street in other locations, such as office towers, parking lots, highways, and an eventual stadium, is questionable, the concentrated welfare and health organizations was indeed beneficial to the community. One should also note that the building was able to hide its 97 parking spots underneath, therefore not requiring further space [9]. And we cannot forget the building’s purpose: not of urban renewal, but of human renewal.

The Knights of Columbus were not the first tenants of 1 State Street. The construction of the building came from the need to consolidate both health and welfare programs into a single building [9, 11, 12, 13].  Hence, the original name was the Community Services Building [9, 11, 13]. The idea of constructing a new building rather than retrofitting an older building developed in 1962, during the climax of New Haven’s era of urban renewal [9]. Suburbanization and downtown decline were forcing the city to attempt radical solutions to retain customers in the urban core. During the 1950s and 60s, New Haven received the fifth largest and highest per capita amount of federal capital grants for urban renewal ($27,424,108 in total; $745.68 per capita) [14]. Mayor Richard C. Lee was the man responsible for obtaining this funding, and was urban renewal’s crusader in the Elm City [14]. His programs would lead to the destruction of the Oak St. neighborhood, the demolition of the southeastern edge of downtown, and the construction of the Oak St. Connector, all of which opened up space for the Community Services Building [9, 14]. The site was given by the New Haven Redevelopment Agency [9, 14]. Funding came from the New Haven Foundation (today the Foundation for Greater New Haven), which would join the first set of tenants in the building [9].

The Community Services Building was designed by Orr, DeCossy, Winder and Associates, and was one of the final buildings to be designed in Douglas Orr’s lifetime (he died in 1966) [9]. The primary architect, however, was not Orr, but DeCossy [9]. A Yale student and later a Yale professor, DeCossy’s work would receive praise, being described as having “achieved a feeling of interconnectedness among the mix of governmental and voluntary agencies housed in the building” [3, 9]. Orr’s firm had not entered the Modernist (or Brutalist) style until both DeCossy and Winder entered the firm [9].

The building was constructed in 1965 [9]. It offered many offices, six meeting rooms, and a 3rd floor cafeteria. Parking was found below the building. The first tenants were, among others, organizations such as the New Haven Foundation, the Urban League of Greater New Haven, the Travelers Aid Society of New Haven, the Girl Scouts, the Homemaker Services Bureau of Greater New Haven, the United Way, the Visiting Nurse Association of Greater New Haven, the New Haven Health Department Clinics, and the Condo Association for the building [36]. The building was designed as the first condo association in Connecticut: tenants would pay a required fee in order to cover maintenance costs and the use of common areas (such as a third floor cafeteria) [9]. The edifice with all its organizations within, must have been an incredible place, the meshing of a variety of people from all walks of life relaxing in the Jackson Courtyard and the cafeteria.

An incredible amount of charity, service, and assistance emanated from the Community Services Building. The Travelers Aid Society was a network built to support the homeless [10]. Arc of Greater New Haven supported (and continues to support) those with mental disabilities [2]. The Urban League of Greater New Haven (now the Urban League of Southern Connecticut) was formed to empower marginalized communities in the city [25]. Even the unassuming Morton J. Loeb dental clinic was founded in 1934 to “provide through the practical application of dentistry, the benefit of necessary dental care only to persons who are referred to the clinic from recognized welfare agencies” [12]. The six meeting rooms were used for a variety of purposes related to the organizations located in the building. To provide a typical example: in 1975, a meeting to discuss the potential loss of funding for a drug abuse program was set for 1 PM, Friday, November 14th, 1975 in the Community Services Building. Health planning and community council agencies from all over Connecticut attended [15].

Writing about the Loeb Dental Clinic, Milton Lisansky coined it as the center of “New Haven’s comprehensive human renewal program” [12]. It is a harsh building for such a warm purpose.

Through 1980, most of these organizations remained in the Community Services Building, its abstract tower at State & George acting as a concrete lighthouse to alert passerbys to the plethora of generous and helpful organizations within. Of a minor concern, one vacancy had popped up [38]. By 1990, however, there was a drop in use [39]. Many organizations left and the condo association fell through [9]. Nine organizations remained in the building where there had been 18 in 1980 [38, 39]. Although a upturn in 1994 saw the building with 16 organizations, only six came from the original set [40].

That same year, the Knights of Columbus purchased the building and by 1995, the Knights of Columbus had an office presence in the building, although they still shared it with one previous tenant: the Institute for Family [9, 41]. But the Knights had bigger plans: a museum. In 2001, after an extensive renovation by Tony Spagnola and Kevin Roche (the same architect of the Knights of Columbus’ headquarters, which was separated from the Community Services Building at the time by the New Haven Coliseum), the Knights of Columbus Museum opened on Saturday, March 19, 2001 [6]. Much of the original interior was gutted in order to make room for 77,000 square feet of exhibition space [11].

What happened to the organizations that left the Community Services Building? All of them either closed or left. Today, the remaining organizations are strong, but spatially disassociated. The United Way finds itself on James Street in northern Fair Haven; the Urban League is now on Grand Avenue [24, 25]. ARC is now in Hamden, and the Girl Scouts are in North Haven [2, 8]. 1 Long Wharf Drive, a former industrial building near Union Station, is the only building to house more than one of the original Community Services Building tenants: the Visiting Nurse Association & Family Counseling of Greater New Haven [26, 28]. The location, however, is dismal: a building on a dead-end road, cut off from New Haven by fences, an extended-stay hotel, and the railroad tracks.

The current program in the building, however, is interesting: it is a method for the Knights of Columbus to communicate their ideals and vision through a free, interactive series of exhibits that are open to the public. The building is a relaxed space, accented by the courtyard, which during the museum conversion was retrofitted with a statue of “Columbus the Evangelist”, a work by Stanley Bliefield [11]. The museum provides another tourist attraction for the Elm City, and a physical space that any pilgrims to the Knights of Columbus can visit. That being said, one might yearn for another community services building to be built. Although an integrated building for such organizations is not necessary (and many of the organizations have continued successfully on their own), such a complex would be a tangible space of giving, of charity, and of service to New Haven. Indeed, there are several empty lots that surround the Knights of Columbus Museum.

The Knights of Columbus Museum sits as an island in a sea of parking & unusable land just southeast of the 9th Square. To the north: parking. To the west: parking. To the south: an underpass. To the east: a railroad cut. Even the Hertz Rent-a-car building, situated diagonally across from the museum at the intersection of State & George, shrinks away from the street, a buffer of parking separating it from the museum’s concrete crown.

The demolition of the New Haven Coliseum in 2007 is the main culprit for this urban isolation, followed by its subsequent lack of redevelopment [23]. Today, the buildings only shelter seems to be the constant flow of cars on State Street, which surrounds the building with its split one-way traffic: northbound to the right, southbound to the left. There are current proposals to make State Street two-way, potentially opening the space between the Knights of Columbus Museum and the railroad tracks [19].

With the developing 9th Square district and growing Wooster Square neighborhood, coupled with the potential transformation of the Coliseum site, there is much that could change in the near future for the building’s urban setting [19, 20, 23]. For now, it stands alone, its concrete cornice towering above the cars and streetlights.