Sloane Physics Laboratory

Through its long history, Sloane Physics Laboratory has developed into a prominent center for physics research within the United States, boasting 10 Nobel Prizes in Physics and the largest particle accelerator available for the use of undergraduate students (1, 2). Today, it continues to house Yale University’s Department of Physics and provides space for the hundreds of students and researchers that work in this building on a daily basis.

However, while it can be easily inferred through its ornamentation that this was at one time an impressive building, this gothic revival style building made of brown stone masonry with reinforced concrete is noticeably deteriorating. It additionally stands aside newer and taller buildings, taking away from its grandeur. With extremely cluttered lab spaces in the underground floors and limited classroom space in the upstairs, the building is threatened by the changing needs of an expanding university. While the classrooms continue to be renovated, implying they will continue to be used in the near future, greater demand for state-of-the-art laboratories has forced the university to move many of the physics teaching labs into the nearby buildings (3, 4). Additionally, with the construction of a brand new laboratory building within a few yards from the entrance of Sloane, rumors within the Physics department suggest that many of the researchers and faculty offices will be moved as well, leading to a drastic change in the use of this historic building (4, 5).

Sheffield Scientific School (1912-1945)

The plot of land now known as Yale University’s “Science Hill” began as the property known as Sachem’s Wood. Located within the Hillhouse Avenue and Prospect Hill Historical Districts, this plot of land is nested inside the wealthiest neighborhoods in New Haven. It lies at the edge of the Prospect District, which developed between 1880 and 1930 as a residential neighborhood for upper middle class business leaders and educators (7). Featuring Victorian stick style houses, some with rich, Second Empire ornamentation, these houses continue to be occupied by families of similar socioeconomic status as the original inhabitants, notably the families of many Yale University deans, professors, alumni, and staff members (7).

On the other side of the property, the Hillhouse Avenue District was established by James Hillhouse, a former senator and representative of Connecticut, in the hopes of creating a fashionable residential development (8). Upon the construction of the Farmington Canal, a waterway that traversed the region on it way to its outlet in the New Haven Harbor, increased economic optimism among New Haven’s upper class residents led to the commission of multiple homes along the district (8). The most important influence for the architecture style of the neighborhood came from James Hillhouse himself, as his family mansion at the top of the hill, on Sachem’s Wood where Sloane Physics Lab lies today, became a standard for these commissions. The form of his original Greek revival villa atop the park-like grounds of the site was repeated in the Hellenic and Italianate houses that continue to line the district (8).

While this mansion dominated the neighborhood for decades, a donation by Mrs. Russell Sage, a descendent of Hillhouse, transferred ownership of Sachem’s Wood to Yale University in 1910, at a time when Yale began looking to expand its curriculum to the sciences. This led to the nesting of Science Hill within the wealthy residential neighborhoods (16).

Yale University has continued to hold incredible prestige as an educational institution since its inception in 1701. However, for nearly two centuries, the university focused on a curriculum almost entirely in the arts and humanities. It was, at the time, believed that scientific instruction was far too vocational for the enlightening Yale course program (9). This, however, led to much controversy towards the 20^th century, especially as other forward-thinking universities such as Harvard began to incorporate sciences into its curriculum. Due to competition pressures, Yale University thus began to expand to include the sciences. However, in keeping with its original philosophy, it began by building laboratories and classrooms away from the center of campus despite the availability of space within Yale’s Old Campus, the original center of the university (9). Sloane was first placed on Library Street but has since been moved northwards, towards the wealthy Prospect and Hillhouse neighborhoods. While Sloane Physics Laboratory was the first of the buildings in what will later be known as Yale’s “Science Hill”, many came about soon after including the Osborne Zoology Laboratory, Sage Hall, and Sterling Chemistry Laboratory (9).

In 1847, the Sheffield Scientific School, specializing in the instruction of engineering and natural sciences, was founded on Prospect Street as a supplement to Yale’s curriculum (10). In its early years, a large divide existed between the students of the two schools despite both being under the same corporation. However, due to the wealth and resources of the University, students and faculty in the Sheff School were allowed to use Yale buildings for instruction. Thus, while buildings including Sloane Physics Lab were commissioned for Yale, its classrooms and laboratories were originally occupied mainly by students and faculty of the Sheff School (11). In fact, the first director of the Sloane Physics Laboratory was Henry A. Bumstead, a professor of physics at the Sheff School (12). Since then, the two schools have merged as instruction in the sciences has become more prominent.

Today, Yale’s Science Hill has developed into a prominent center for research and innovation. Despite the University’s start as an institution for education in the humanities, it has recently vowed to devote $500 million in resources to raise the profile of sciences at Yale. Of this money, $300 million is set to go to renovations of existing facilities and $200 million is set to go to five entirely new buildings (13).

In the physics department in particular, this development is extremely evident. Currently, the department houses over 50 faculty members, over 50 research staff, and over 100 graduate students in addition to the hundreds of Yale College undergraduates enrolled in physics courses (14). The department has additionally taken an integral role Yale’s recent promise to increase diversity by housing annual events such as the American Physics Society Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics and the Edward Bouchet Conference, the latter being named after a physics student at Yale who became the first African American to earn a doctorate degree at any American university (15).

Sloane Physics Laboratory is surrounded by other laboratory and classroom buildings owned by Yale University. Together, this complex of buildings is known as Yale’s Science Hill, and is thus very busy and constantly occupied by student pedestrians. The plot of land has been under construction for a majority of the past decade and tends to be very loud.

The land lies north of the center of the university, and many of the streets that lead up to the plot feature Italianate houses, formerly owned by upper middle class New Haven citizens, that have since been renovated into classrooms or administrative buildings (7). The streets are lined with lush trees and continue to appear residential despite their new use.

Further north, there are many Second Empire style houses that are part of the wealthy residential neighborhood of Prospect Hill (8).

Sloane Physics Laboratory is a 3-story gothic revival style building with two underground floors. Its rectangular shape, brown stone masonry exterior and turret tower gives it a heavy and squat appearance despite its use of gothic revival forms, a style of building that is generally associated with structures that draw the eyes upwards towards the heavens (6). It instead focuses on ornamentation with lancet windows, arched entryway frames, many gables in the roof to create the points that resemble conventional gothic forms. Many universities built around this era also adopted this form of gothic architecture, leading to the style of collegiate gothic. Due to the style’s associations with morality and enlightenment, this was purposely done in order to add to the social and cultural importance of these institutions (6).

On the interior, terrazzo floors, arched entryways, tall, lancet windows, and barrel and groin vaulted ceilings add to the grandeur of the building, especially within the beautiful atrium between the first and second floors. However, the exposed concrete, rusted water pipes, and cracked floors reveal signs of deterioration. These features are among the many that have stayed nearly the same since the inception of the building, save for the changes made to keep in line with new fire codes throughout the years (4). The only parts of the building that have recently undergone renovation are the classrooms on the first and second floor, which are notably the only rooms within the building that now have air condition systems (3).

1.    “List of Nobel laureates by university affiliation,” Wikipedia, accessed February 26, 2018

2.    Swerdlow Joshua, Yale Undergraduate Physics Major. Interview by Krista Chen. February 22, 2018.

3.   Building Permit Application for SPL 11, 20-20a, 6-9, April 27, 2012, City of New Haven Building Department, New Haven, Connecticut.

4.   Barbaras, Catherine, Administrative Assistant. Interview by Krista Chen. February 22, 2018.

5.    Tranquilli, Sandra, Graduate Registrar. Interview by Krista Chen. February 22, 2018

6.   “Gothic Revival,” The Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed February 26, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/art/Gothic-Revival

7.    “Prospect Hill Historic District,” New Haven Preservation Trust, accessed February 26, 2018. http://nhpt.org/index.php/site/district/prospect_hill_historic_district/

8.    “Hillhouse Avenue Historic District,” New Haven Preservation Trust, accessed February 26, 2018. http://nhpt.org/index.php/about_new_haven/list_of_historic_districts/hillhouse_avenue_historic_district/

9.   Adkisson, Kevin. “How Science Was Built: 1701-1900,” Yale Scientific, October 2, 2010. http://www.yalescientific.org/2010/10/how-science-was-built-1701-1900/

10. Stone, Melissa. “Another Time, Another SSS: A Brief History of the Sheffield Scientific School,” Yale Scientific, November 22, 2008. http://www.yalescientific.org/2008/11/another-time-another-sss-a-brief-history-of-the-sheffield-scientific-school/

11. Yale University. Catalogue of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University for the College Year 1916-1917. New Haven: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1917.

12. Series of letters to and from H.A. Bumstead, “Department of Physics, Yale University, Records: Library circulation book and records on the building of Sloane Physics Laboratory,” TS 172859, Box 1. Yale University Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, Connecticut, United States.

13. Smaglik, Paul, “Yale hopes a $500 million boost will raise research profile,” Nature International Journal of Science 403, no. 349 (2000). Accessed February 26, 2018. https://www.nature.com/articles/35000365

14. Staff Directory and Contact Information, Department of Physics, Yale University, accessed February 26, 2018. https://physics.yale.edu/people

15. Edward A. Bouchet Conference, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Yale University, accessed February, 26, 2018. https://gsas.yale.edu/diversity/edward-bouchet-conference

16. “$650,000 to Yale, Mrs. Russell Sage’s Gift” New York Times (New York, NY), January 1, 1910. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/01/01/104915451.html?pageNumber=3

17. Blueprints of Sloane Physics Laboratory by Charles C. Haight, “Architectural Drawings and Maps of Yale University Buildings and Grounds Papers: Architectural drawings and maps (not microfilmed),” TS 172426, Box 490. Yale University Manuscripts and Archives, New Haven, Connecticut, United States.

18. Sanborn Map Company of New York, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 2, 1924, 71.

19. Sanborn Map Company of New York, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 2, 1973, 70.

20.  “165 Prospect Street.” Tax Accessor’s Database, New Haven, CT, Vision Government Solutions, 2016. http://gis.vgsi.com/newhavenct/Parcel.aspx?pid=13922