Yale School of Nursing

Nestled in a lowered bowl and surrounded by a sprawling parking lot, the Yale School of Nursing medical office is a two-story, concrete megastructure of a distinctly post-modern style. Due to its sunken location, the building looks shorter than it is — its second floor is roughly the street-level. According to a historic resources inventory report by the State of Connecticut, the building consists of four square units linked around a cross-shaped axis, although this structure is hard to discern from the outside. The architects of 100 Church Street South have a heavy imprint on the New Haven landscape — Dinkeloo and Roche also designed the Knights of Columbus Tower and the New Haven Coliseum. The Yale School of Nursing is the current tenant of the building, but it is used primarily as an office rather than an educational space. 

Lee High School

It used to be a high school.

The Lee High School was one of the first large renewal era projects in the Hill Neighborhood, according to a historic resources inventory report by the State of Connecticut. It was built in 1964 and its structure was designed specifically for educational purposes — its four square units served as distinct educational groups for the high school, each with their own headmasters and teachers. The Yale School of Nursing began looking for a suitable location in 1993 and found it at 100 Church Street South in 1994 and the move-in was complete from 1995 to 1996. Since then, the School has conducted operations from the location. 

The building occupies a whole block on Church Street and is also adjacent to U.S. Highway One. The building’s Southwest is the old Hill neighborhood, which was partially demolished to make way for the school. The Church Street South Housing complex is to the east of the building. Overall, the building is situated in a dense urban setting. The spatial size of the building and its foreboding façade juts out in the largely residential setting. 

The building is a post-modern megastructure with two stories and is made up of primarily concrete material. It takes up an entire block on Church Street South and is surrounded by a spread-out parking area. Architecturally, the building’s two stories make up distinct layers. The lower story is inconspicuous and partially hidden because the building is located in a shallow bowl. The upper story, however, has a band of windows that run around the side, as well as a concrete parapet that hangs over the lower story. This feature accentuates the three-dimensionality of the building and highlights its horizontal façade. 

Yale Digital Collection: http://findit.library.yale.edu/catalog/digcoll:2255250

Yale Nursing School history: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1182&context=ysn_alumninews

Vision Government Solution: http://gis.vgsi.com/newhavenct/Parcel.aspx?Pid=105649

New Haven Modern: http://newhavenmodern.org/lee-high-school