Yale University Theatre/School of Drama

A Collegiate Gothic style theatre that houses many of the administrative offices of the Yale School of Drama. Its façade is made of stone, while the majority of the building is comprised of a combination of brick and stone details. Behind the façade, in the center of the building, a tall windowless rectangular tower rises up imposingly. This tower, which has no rooms inside, has no functional purpose and is kept locked. The building contains a proscenium theatre that can seat 654 people on the ground floor and in the balcony. Additionally, within the building are located a box office, scenery shop, and rooms for props and costumes. The University Theatre has been used for productions by the Yale School of Drama, the Yale Dramatic Association, and the Yale Repertory Theatre, and its construction in 1926 helped provide a sense of legitimacy and importance for the theatrical arts at Yale. 

According to Sanborn maps from 1886, 1901, and 1924, prior to 1925 the site of the University Theatre was used as a private residence. Then in 1925, construction began on the University Theatre, which was subsequently finished in 1926 by Blackall, Clapp, & Whittemore. In 1931, James Gamble Rogers renovated the façade to eliminate some of the theatre’s “original severity”. A third floor was added to the building in 1957, designed by Henry F. Miller, that originally housed the School of Drama’s Library. In the late 1960s, the theatre was still thought by students to be overly formal and stuffy, so Daniel Scully and Robert Knight designed a marquee from metal pipes, car headlights, and oil drums to grace the front of the building. However, this marquee was removed twenty years later. Since then, the theatre has been used for countless performances, and remains crucial to Yale’s dramatic organizations. 

In 1924, Edward S. Harkness donated over $1 million to establish a drama department within the Yale School of Fine Arts and pay for the construction of the University Theatre, where the department could be housed. Harkness’ decision to fund a drama department was in part inspired by the Yale Dramatic Association, an undergraduate organization that had been putting on shows since 1901. The theatre itself was designed by Blackall, Clapp, & Whittemore, and constructed from 1925 to 1926. In 1955, the Yale School of Drama became a professional school independent from the umbrella organization of the School of Fine Arts. Then, in 1966, the dean of the School of Drama, Robert Brustein, established the Yale Repertory Theatre. While the Repertory Theatre has its own official space in a repurposed church on Chapel Street, the University Theatre continues to be used jointly between the School of Drama, the Dramatic Association, and the Repertory Theatre, thereby acting as a unifying space for the dramatic groups at Yale. 

The Yale University Theatre, located in Downtown New Haven, sits on York Street in the middle of Yale’s campus. It is flanked by Davenport College and Pierson College, and

faces Jonathan Edwards and Saybrook, which both share aspects of the theatre’s architectural style. Nearby are many other Yale buildings: the School of Architecture, the Wolf’s Head society building, the Art Gallery, and the Afro American Cultural Center, as well as a number of administrative offices housed in buildings that were once occupied by fraternities and societies. Additionally, the University Theatre sits between the Broadway and Chapel shopping districts. In its location, the University Theatre stands as an impressive monument at the end of Library Walk, by which it is connected to Old Campus. 

This large, three-story theatre has an ornate façade, made of limestone and seam-faced granite ashlar, resembling that of a Gothic cathedral. This current façade is James Gamble Rogers’ 1931 renovation of the original: a replacement designed to liven up the external appearance of the theatre. At the corners of the façade, the gray stone blends into red brick, which comprises the rest of the building. The roof of the theatre is flat, while on its south side a shingled gable roof slants down over the brick projection that runs alongside the central building. Rising up from the flat roof of the theatre stands the central rectangular brick tower, which is windowless and adorned with stone detail to evoke a Gothic arch design. On top of the tower, on the front left corner as seen from the street, sits an octagonal stone turret. If the façade resembles a Gothic cathedral, the tower resembles a medieval castle, conveying power without demanding attention.

The Collegiate Gothic elements of the University Theatre echo the similar styles of other Yale buildings, most of which were also designed by Rogers. Most notably, comparisons can be drawn between the University Theatre and Sterling Memorial Library, Payne Whitney Gymnasium, and Harkness Tower, along with the rest of the Memorial Quadrangle.

The front doors of the theatre open up to a lobby that contains the box office. Beyond the lobby sits the theatre itself, whose red carpet divides the rows of red cushioned seats. Above the first floor a balcony overlooks the wooden stage, which is flanked by two concrete walls. The third floor of the theatre was not added until 1957 by Henry F. Miller. It originally held the Drama School Library, but this has since been relocated to the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library. Overall, the University Theatre stands as an impressive monument to the theatrical arts at Yale, with its powerful structure and church-like façade demanding that theater be recognized and venerated. 

1. The Buildings of Yale University, Bulletin of Yale University, Series 61, Number 3, 1965, 35.
2. Brooks Mather Kelley, Yale: A History, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 384.
3. Report of the Treasurer of Yale University, Bulletin of Yale University, Series 18, Number 23, 1922, 23-24.
4. “Facilities,” Yale School of Drama, accessed February 20, 2018, https://drama.yale.edu/facilities.
5. Robert A. M. Stern and Jimmy Stamp, Pedagogy and Place: 100 Years of Architecture Education at Yale (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016), 281.
6. Elizabeth Mills Brown, New Haven: A Guide to Architecture and Urban Design (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976), 125.
7. “School of Drama 2017-2018: History and Facilities,” Yale University, accessed February 18, 2018, http://bulletin.printer.yale.edu/htmlfiles/drama/history- and-facilities.html.
8. Patrick L. Pinnell, Yale University: An Architectural Tour (The Campus Guide) (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2013), 54.
9. Sanborn-Ferris Map Co., Insurance Maps of New Haven, Connecticut, Volume 1, 1901, 3.
10. Sanborn Map Company of New York, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 2, 1924, 203.
11. Sanborn Map Company of New York, Insurance Maps of New Haven Connecticut, Volume 2, 1973, 203.
12. “224 York St,” City of New Haven Online Assessment Database, accessed February 18, 2018, http://gis.vgsi.com/newhavenct/Parcel.aspx?pid=16788.