The English Building

The English Building is a four-story yellow-brick neoclassical building, home to EBM Vintage. Salon LuLu, Love146, and Robert Orr & Associates. Part of a row of commercial buildings in dense downtown New Haven, the English Building touts a highly-detailed façade with rows of distinct windows, intricate carvings and moldings, a green copper shed roof, and a recently-renovated one-story glass storefront. The building has an extensive history and its appearance and utilization over time give insight into the development of the Ninth Square, as well as that of downtown New Haven.

1882 (1)

McIntyre, Maguire & Co

1890 (2)

English Henry F (lawyer) (3)

Loomis Temple of Music

1900 (4)

English Henry F (lawyer)

Loomis Temple of Music

1915 (5)

Atwater’s Orchestra

Fichtl’s Orchestra

Loomis Temple of Music

Miles Frank C (tailor)

Kautz R Leroy (insurance)

Smith Elmer E Co (insurance agents)

Prudential Insurance Co of America

English Henry F (lawyer)

New Haven Commissioners of Public Parks

English Benjamin F (real estate)

Interstate Builders & Contractors Association

Sanford G A (office)

Cahn A (civil engineer)

Murphy & Dana (architects)

Mutual Benefit Associations for Masons

1920 (6)

Atwater’s Orchestra

Fichtl’s Orchestra

Loomis Temple of Music

Funk Albert (tailor)

Kautz R Leroy (insurance)

Beneficial Loan Society

Prudential Insurance Co of America

English Harold K (real estate)

English Henry F (lawyer)

New Haven Commissioners of Public Parks

English Benjamin F (real estate)

Builders Exchange (sec office)

Evergreen Cemetery Association

Sanford G A (office)

Cahn A (civil engineer)

Norton & Townsend (architects)        

1927 (7)

Loomis Temple of Music

Funk Albert (tailor)

Kautz R Leroy (real estate)

English Harold K (real estate)

English Henry F (lawyer)

Evergreen Cemetery Association

Cahn A (civil engineer)

Winslow Mildred B (optometrist)

Keegan Henrietta (corsetiere)

1939 (8)

Loomis Temple of Music

Pinn S H (dentist)

Pearl’s Fur Shop

English Harold K (real estate)

English Henry F (lawyer)

Evergreen Cemetery Association

Cahn A (civil engineer)

Winslow Mildred B (optometrist)

New Haven Taxpayers Inc.

1944-45 (9)

Northeastern Wood Utilization Council

Pinn S H (dentist)

Sleeping Giant Park Association

Connecticut Forest & Park Association

English Harold K (real estate)

Evergreen Cemetery Association

Cahn A (civil engineer)

New Haven Taxpayers Research Council Inc.

1961 (10)

The Beese-Richey Co (clothing)

1970 (11)

Rogers Peet Co (clothing)

1980 (12)

Exclusive Dress Shop Inc. (clothing)

1997 (13)

Exclusive Dress Shop Inc. (clothing)

2012 (14)

Salon LuLu

English Building Markets

The Bours           

Love146

2018

Salon LuLu

EBM Vintage

Love146

Robert Orr & Associates

In 1851, 837-839 Chapel Street did not yet exist, as the Wall Map of City of New Haven does not seem to include the structure. The block contains the Tontine Hotel, a bank, and several unidentified buildings in the area where 837-839 Chapel would eventually be located (32). The building is thought to be built sometime around the 1860s, with it possibly appearing on a map from 1879 (33). One of the earliest maps on which 837-839 is directly identified is the 1886 Sanborn Map, where the building is labelled among a row of long brick buildings bordering Chapel Street (34). From Sanborn maps over time, identiites of neighboring buildings have changed over time, ranging from commercial and retail stores to civic and public buildings (35).

Major renovations to the building have included the reconstruction of the front façade in 1900 to include a two-story false front, the addition of a glass storefront in 1945, and the most recent renovation around 2002 restoring much of the pre-1900 façade and installing a one-story false glass storefront (36, 37).

The earliest known tenant of 837-839 Chapel Street was the McIntyre, Maguire, & Co., a purveyor of dry goods in 1882 (18). The building itself was likely built around the 1860s, with the first drawing seen on an 1879 drawn map of the buildings of New Haven (19). The building has notably been mixed use throughout its history, housing a variety of insurance companies, architects, medical and law offices, orchestras, and real estate firms over time (see Past Tenants section). Notable historical occupants include the Loomis Temple of Music and Henry F. English, a lawyer who is the namesake for the present-day English Building and also for the last private home to be built on Hillhouse Avenue (20). English purchased the building at the end of the 19^th century and added the original two-story false front in 1900 (21). 837 Chapel was home to the Loomis Temple of Music from 1890 until the mid 20^th century (22). In the late 20^th century, 837-839 Chapel housed a series of clothing stores, until Robert Orr purchased the building in 2002 and renovated it to the English Building that we see today (23). Present-day, the English Building has maintained its mixed-use history. It houses EBM Vintage New Haven on the first, Love146 on the second, Salon LuLu on the third, and Robert Orr & Associates on the fourth floor.

Much of the English Building’s social history is inextricable from the history of its location in the Ninth Square Historical District. The Ninth square was the southeast-most block of New Haven’s 17^th century original design of nine half-mile-long squares (24). In the 17^th to 19^th centuries, the Ninth Square was a busy commercial area; its location by the harbor, the Farmington Canal, and the railroad designated it as a center of manufacturing and trade (25). Lending to its importance in New Haven civic life was its proximity to the Green, Yale University, and other government buildings (26). This high level of urban activity is illustrated in an image of New Haven in 1911 (see image of 1910 Chapel Street). However, after World War II in the mid-20^th century, the Ninth Square and the rest of New Haven were affected from the movement of people to the suburbs (27). As a result, much of downtown New Haven was targeted for redevelopment in the 1950-60s; the Ninth Square was not redeveloped and became relatively run-down by the 1970-80s (28). With renewal efforts from the 1980s onwards, the appearance of many historic buildings has been restored and subsidized by the government (29). One of the largest concerns extending into today is that that the Ninth Square lacks the pedestrian traffic expected of a downtown neighborhood and has not attracted the anticipated level of commercial attention (30). This is reflected by the current owner of the English Building; in a 2012 article, Orr expressed, “All the store owners here are hopeful but anxious to see this area grow faster” (31).

One block east of the New Haven Green, the English Building is in the middle of New Haven’s dense downtown business district, primarily comprised of well-preserved commercial buildings from the 19th and early 20th century. Located across the street from a cluttered empty lot converted into parking spaces and a major bus stop, the English Building is part of a row of three- to five- story structures of diverse storefronts. The bordering storefronts form a continuous façade with no setback from the sidewalk. There is light foot and regular car traffic on the adjacent section of Chapel Street. Walking down this strip of Chapel Street, a pedestrian encounters a close juxtaposition of many forms and styles, including “arcades of round-arched windows, elaborate bracketed Italianate cornices, Romanesque corbelling,” lending to a streetscape of diverse visual rhythm (17).

The English Building is a four-story four-bay, neoclassical commercial building with a single-story glass storefront. Of masonry and yellow brick, the highly decorative front façade displays an interesting play of forms, featuring rows of arched, rectilinear, and round windows and pilasters with Corinthianesque capitals. The façade also exhibits rich classical details, with cut egg and dart moldings, elaborate carvings, and a pressed-copper classical cornice with balustrade. A second cornice, of egg and dart moldings and acanthus leaf enrichments, divides the third and fourth levels. These exterior elements lend to an overall sense of grandeur and to a luxurious and elegant structural composition, an apt choice for the vintage and antiques shop occupying the building’s ground floor (15).

The single-story glass storefront is the result of a 2002 renovation by Robert Orr, who replaced a two-story false front from 1900 and saw the restoration of a dentil molding (16). Upon closer observation, this renovation is evident from the remnant breaks between the 2nd and 3rd stories of the façade.

[1] New Haven Historic Resources Inventory, Phase I, Volume I: Essays and Methodology, (New Haven: The New Haven Preservation Trust, 1984), 103.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Greater New Haven Directory (New Haven: The Price & Lee Co, 1890).

[4] New Haven Historic Resources Inventory, Phase I, Volume I: Essays and Methodology, 103.

[5] Greater New Haven Directory (New Haven: The Price & Lee Co, 1915).

[6] Greater New Haven Directory (New Haven: The Price & Lee Co, 1920).

[7] Greater New Haven Directory (New Haven: The Price & Lee Co, 1927).

[8] Greater New Haven Directory (New Haven: The Price & Lee Co, 1939).

[9] Greater New Haven Directory (New Haven: The Price & Lee Co, 1944-45).

[10] Greater New Haven Directory (New Haven: The Price & Lee Co, 1961).

[11] Greater New Haven Directory (New Haven: The Price & Lee Co, 1970).

[12] Greater New Haven Directory (New Haven: The Price & Lee Co, 1980).

[13] Greater New Haven Directory (New Haven: Hill – Donnelly Corporation, 1997).

[14] "Presents From The Past". 2012. Daily Nutmeg. http://dailynutmeg.com/2012/03/22/english-building-market-presents-from-the-past/.

[15] New Haven Historic Resources Inventory, Phase I, Volume I: Essays and Methodology, 103.

[16] "The English Building, New Haven, CT". 2018. Robert Orr + Associates. Accessed February 20. http://www.robertorr.com/the-english-building-new-haven-ct/.

[17] National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form, Ninth Square Historic District, (New Haven: National Park Service, 1987), 8.

[18] New Haven Historic Resources Inventory, Phase I, Volume I: Essays and Methodology, 103.

[19] O.H. Bailey and J.C. Hazen Map of New Haven, 1879.

[20] "Historic Buildings Of Connecticut: The Henry F. English House (1892)". 2008. Historicbuildingsct.Com. http://historicbuildingsct.com/?p=723.

[21] Walker Lith. & Pub. Co. Atlas of New Haven Connecticut, 1911.

[22] New Haven Historic Resources Inventory, Phase I, Volume I: Essays and Methodology, 103.

[23] "Presents From The Past".

[24] Floyd Shumway and Richard Hegel, New Haven: A Topographical History (New Haven: New Haven Colony Historical Society, 1988), 13.

[25] Cory Alperstein, The Ninth Square: A Chronical (New Haven: New Haven Downtown Council, 1985), 1.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Ibid, 5.

[28] Douglas Rae, Urbanism and Its End (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005), 324.

[29] Rachael Doud, "The City's Role in Renewal: A Comparative Study of Redevelopment in Two New Haven Districts" (New Haven: Yale Law School), Paper 7.

[30] Ibid.

[31] "Presents From The Past".

[32] Wall Map of City of New Haven, 1851.

[33] O.H. Bailey and J.C. Hazen Map of New Haven, 1879.

[34]  Sanborn Map Company of New York, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 1, 1886, 5.

[35] Sanborn Map Company of New York, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 1, 1924, 5.

Sanborn Map Company of New York, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 1, 1923 (updated to 1930), 5.

Sanborn Map Company of New York, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 1, 1923 (updated to 1960), 5.

Sanborn Map Company of New York, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 1, 1973 (updated to 1930), 5.

[36] New Haven Historic Resources Inventory, Phase I, Volume I: Essays and Methodology, 103.

[37] "The English Building, New Haven, CT".