Street Building - 742 Chapel Street

The Street Building or 742-750 Chapel Street was originally constructed in 1832 as part of the bustling commercial district in New Haven's Ninth Square. The building has maintained its original commercial purpose through almost two centuries of existence in New Haven. From the Street family’s hardware shop to Pocket Wireless, a now defunct cell-phone store, to SeeClickFix, a present day New Haven non-profit, to The White Buffalo, a vape shop, the buildings tenants track the rise and fall of industries through almost two centuries. The building’s Greek Revival style with the renovated Chapel Street facade interestingly opposes the dominating Elm City Market across the street. Once a central piece of a “happening” commercial district, the building, although it is home to a lively bus stop and Subway sandwich shop, stands in an uncertain moment. It’s two upper floors are vacant as if waiting for a decision about the economic future of New Haven. 

Street Family (1832)

Hill Family (source: Sanborn Maps 1911)

Heidi’s Uniform Shop (photo National Register of Historic Places)

Boost Mobile

Las Vegas Jewelry

Pocket Wireless

The past tenants of this particular place are many and varied, but almost all of them are  

 From Deacon Charles Bostwick 1845 drawing, shortly after construction in 1832, we can see that this particular site started as “Titus Street’s House and Store.” The building was later owned by the Hill family or was part of the Hill Estate. The social history of the building is tied to the commercial and historical Ninth Square of New Haven. The building seems to fit neatly into the huge growth of commercial enterprise as the first industrial revolution boomed before the Civil War. Following the Civil War the building underwent a makeover, changing hands but maintaining its commercial value. The area close to the building at that time was bustling. Banks and other shops littered the corners and adjacent blocks. We see, however, as manufacturing began to fail, and the city took an economic turn for the worse the buildings surrounding 742 Chapel Street began to be demolished. The different color brick at the back of the building is perhaps the starkest evidence of this change. As the city tries to reform its identity in this contemporary moment, balancing local business with national chains, non-profit with profit, 742 Chapel stands as a sort of metaphor for that uncertainty in development. The building at the corner is on the precipice of development, and its purchase by a large New York firm is further evidence of that potential or perhaps danger of redevelopment. 

742 Chapel Street sits after a long row of businesses. Some local shops. Some national chains. Its next door neighbor is the U.S. post office. Dunkin' Donuts and a recently opened Dollar General also share the block. Across the street stands the bold, heavily-ornamented, domineering luxury grocery store and apartments of Elm City Market. Another glance upward and the towering 360 State Street looms. 742 Chapel Street is out of another era. Although it has seen many different businesses and even non-profits, the building essentially holds the same commercial role it once held. The significant change has happened around it. In the early 1900s the building was surrounded by small banks and State Street held commercial and residential properties. This would change with the expansion of the railroad and economic decline of the mid 20th century. Although there are buildings around, the main source of traffic is State Street itself and the bus stop that sits in front of the nail salon. 

The brick building was constructed in 1832 at the behest of the Street Family. The Greek revival style can be seen in the Doric columns that grace the State Street side of the building. The facade, built in 1921 by architect Roy Foote, calls the viewers attention. A subway sign demands to be seen with its bright green and yellow logo. Other shops are visible, attempting to draw attention in different ways. SeeClickFix, the successful non-profit sits on the second floor looking down from above. The top two floors and the accompanying brick look like they are taken from a past age. Vacant with slight indications of decay, the top two floors remind the viewer of the reality of business in New Haven. Although this building was once a commercial hub, it now sits at the corner of a commercial district that doesn’t draw nearly as many patrons as it once did. If you walk up towards the Green and glance back at the green the molding on the second floor extends out into the blue sky gesturing to a history that has disappeared. No bank sits across state street. Now there is simply a divided road and the Amtrak and Metro North train lines. 

Colin Caplan, A Guide to Historic New Haven (Charleston: The History Press, 2007).

Mary O’Leary, “New York investors heating up the New Haven real estate market,” New Haven Register, December, 19, 2016, https://www.nhregister.com/business/article/New-York-investors-heating-up-the-New-Haven-real-11320750.php/

Melissa Bailey, "Las Vegas Hits Jack-Pocket," New Haven Independent, October 14, 2010, http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/las_vegas_hits_jack-pocket/

Melissa Bailey, “Downtown’s Vaping Pioneers Aim High,” New Haven Independent, July 10, 2014, http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/vaping_pioneers_aim_high/ 

“Ninth Square Historic District.” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Inventory--Nomination Form. May 3, 1894.  

Insurance Maps of New Haven, Connecticut. Vol. 1. New York, NY: Sanborn Map Company, 1886.

Insurance Maps of New Haven, Connecticut. Vol. 1. New York, NY: Sanborn Map Company, 1901.

Insurance Maps of New Haven, Connecticut. Vol. 1. New York, NY: Sanborn Map Company, 1911.