Firehouse 12

Once an important fire station for city of New Haven, this building has been restored into one of the city’s most modern and popular spaces for music and nightlife. It is a brick, Beaux-Arts classical style building with stone details sitting in New Haven’s Ninth Square. The building originally served as a fire station from 1905-1961, and it was renovated between 2002 and 2005 into its current use as a restaurant, bar, state-of-the-art music recording studio/concert venue, and loft living space. A more recent renovation included the addition of a three bedroom apartment, added to the roof of the building and available for rent on AirBnB. The renovations of this building were part of the city’s attempt to revitalize the Ninth Square.

New Haven Fire Department (Engine 12): 1905-1961

Originally, this plot was partially occupied by a shed, which is seen on Sanborn insurance maps of 1886 and 1901 (4, 5). The construction of the fire station was completed in 1905, and “Fire Dep’t. Eng. Co. No. 12” makes its first appearance on the 1923 Sanborn map (11). This building is unlabeled in the 1973 Sanborn map, after the department was disbanded (12). Since then, renovations were completed in 2005 to revitalize the building and 2016 for the addition of the apartments (3).

The New Haven Department of Fire Service - No. 12 occupied 47 Crown St. for over 55 years (1905-1961), serving the Ninth Square District and beyond. The fire engines (at this time these were horses pulling water or trucks powered by steam) occupied the first floor, and the second floor was the hayloft for the horses (2). After the department was disbanded, the building remained vacant (3) for over 40 years. During this time, as with other vacant buildings in the area, the building became home to many squatters, and it began to fall apart with age and misuse.

The Ninth Square District went through a season of urban renewal in the 1980s-early 2000s to restore vacant buildings and encourage more foot traffic in the area (6). The success of the project has increased commerce in the area, with 94% of retail spaces leased as of 2016, and the cleaned-up district has become popular among artists and people of varied incomes (6). Firehouse 12 was one of these revamped vacant buildings, and the city sought proposals in 2002 for its reuse. Nick Lloyd and Megan Craig submitted a plan to restore the building (now labeled as 45 Crown St.) into the musician’s haven that it is today, and renovations were finished in 2005 (7). Because of the city’s conditions for sale, the owners also had to live in the building for seven years, so a large loft was built as their new home (3).  

Firehouse 12 has seen success as a bar and restaurant, winning many accolades for best bartender in New Haven (8). The state-of-the-art recording studio was designed by John Storyk, who also designed Jimmy Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios (9), and its record label fits a niche audience and set of performers in experimental jazz. Outside of the jazz world, the studio has also been used for recording audio books and a cappella groups from the nearby Yale University (10). The studio also serves as a performance venue, and it hosts a spring and fall jazz festival every year (9). The upstairs living space was converted into a loft for rent (usually to musicians playing or recording at the studio) after the required seven years’ of residence by the owners was complete. The addition of the top floor (an architectural feat in which 10 pieces made of cross-laminated timber panels were attached to and assembled on the roof in just one day) expanded the rentable space to include 3 more bedrooms (2), all with access to a stunning roof-top view of downtown New Haven.

Overall, Firehouse 12 is a great example of a Ninth Square urban renewal success story, and it serves as an inspiration both for other businesses downtown and for aspiring architects at Yale and beyond.

Firehouse 12 is in the middle of new Haven’s Ninth Square, a commercial district that has been improved and redeveloped over the last thirty years. This has always been a more commercial, previously manufacturing-oriented part of the city, as seen in Sanborn maps dating back to 1886 (4) and now the building is surrounded by businesses, including restaurants, cafes, and small retailers, as well as lots of parking space. 

This large brick building originally was two floors plus a basement, and it has two large cut-outs in the front, which originally served as doors for fire trucks. Many aspects of the façade are indicators of the Beaux-Arts style, including the flat roof, the arches above the doors, and the stone decorations (two framing the windows, the decoration on the roof, and the faux columns between the windows) (1). Now, the building has been restored and modernized, with large wooden doors and windows replacing the fire truck doors. The first set of renovations took place between 2002 and 2005 and were led by the firm Gray Organschi, whose offices are next door (2). The entrance leads either down to the cocktail room in the basement or to the state-of-the-art recording studio and concert space on the main floor. The second floor is split between a sitting room/office space and a large, high-ceilinged loft with two bedrooms. The new addition of the top floor (added atop the old roof) is a three bedroom apartment. There are two furnished rooftops, one off the second floor facing the back parking lot and the second at the top of the building accessible to tenants of the apartment. Original features of the building, including window shutters, an old medal hay hook hanging from the ceiling, and the original structural beams and bricks, can be seen throughout the building, but windows have been replaced and there is a clean line of separation between the original brick of the firehouse and the light-colored cross-laminated timber panels of the added apartment (3). 

(1)  Craven, Jackie. "What's So Fine About Beaux Arts?" ThoughtCo. January 19, 2018. Accessed February 26, 2018. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-beaux-arts-architecture-178195.

(2)  Hopping, Luke. "A 1905 Fire Station in Connecticut Is Converted Into a Community Hub For Art and Music." Dwell. September 27, 2017. Accessed February 10, 2018. https://www.dwell.com/article/a-1905-fire-station-in-connecticut-is-converted-into-a-community-hub-for-art-and-music-50164335.

(3)  Ashley Redbone, interview by Mary Petzke, during tour of Firehouse 12. February 20, 2018.

(4)  Sanborn Maps, Insurance Map of New Haven, Connecticut, Volume 1, 1886, 3.

(5)  Condon, Tom. “After two decades, it’s New Haven’s SoHo.” The CT Mirror. August 16, 2016. Accessed February 26, 2018. https://ctmirror.org/2016/08/16/after-two-decades-its-new-havens-soho/.

(6)  Bernstein, Fred A. “In a Firehouse, Life With Art and Music.” The New York Times. September 08, 2007. Accessed February 26, 2018. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/realestate/09habi.html.

(7)  "The Bar at Firehouse 12." Firehouse 12. Accessed February 26, 2018. http://firehouse12.com/bar.

(8)  Chinen, Nate. "One-Stop Hub for Avant-Garde Jazz." The New York Times. March 26, 2009. Accessed February 26, 2018. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/arts/music/27fire.html.

(9)  Greg DiCrosta, interview by Mary Petzke, during tour of Firehouse 12. February 20, 2018.

(10) Sanborn-Ferris Map Co., Insurance Maps of New Haven, Connecticut Volume 2, 1901, 163.

(11) Sanborn Map Company of New York, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 1, 1923, 6.

(12)  Sanborn Maps, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 1, 1973, 6.