The New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum

The New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum was among the modern architecture built during the era of urban renewal in New Haven. Construction began in 1968 and it opened 1972. The Coliseum was a cultural and architectural landmark, and home to frequent sports and music programming. It was closed in 2002 and was demolished in 2007. Today it is a surface parking lot. The Coliseum's imposing megastructural form and the eventual deterioration of its materials made it a controversial structure, but many local residents have warm memories of attending sports games and/or concerts there.

The Coliseum replaced the New Haven Arena, located further up State Street at Grove. Before urban renewal, spearheaded by Mayor Richard C. Lee, there was a rich fabric of different building types and programs such as cold storage, plumbing supply, and hotels. But those buildings began to be demolished in the 1950s. The Coliseum was bounded by the Oak Street Connector, State Street, and George. South Orange Street ran under the parking garage. Since the Coliseum was demolished in 2007, parking lots have occupied the site.

The New Haven Coliseum was a cultural hub and gathering place, known best for hockey and for concerts. Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Elvis, and David Bowie had shows at the Coliseum. The Who, Aerosmith, The Allman Brothers Band, and Van Halen, among others, played the Coliseum multiple times. Its implosion was a widely attended public spectacle—New Haven denizens watched the structure fall from the Temple Street Garage and surrounding rooftops.

The Coliseum loomed over the neighborhood, and its sides faced the Oak Street Connector, the Knights of Columbus Museum, the then-Community Services building, and the shopfronts of George Street. It is a short walk from the train station, but it is very much a building built for the automobile.

The Coliseum was a megastructure made of weathering steel spans and reinforced concrete piers, with two spiral corkscrew ramps lead up to the garage. The concrete was clad in the same tile as the Knights of Columbus building next to it. Its design was iconic, and one of the only built megastructures of the postwar era. Due to the high water table of the site, Roche experimented with parking options until he settled on placing the parking garage on top of the actual arena structure. It was meant to allow easy pedestrian access to the retail that was originally planned for ground level. Due to lack of funding neither the retail nor the exhibition hall were build.

Sanborn Maps - New Haven City Museum

Article Clippings - New Haven City Museum

Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates records, 1964-2008, Yale University Manuscripts and Archives.

Yale University Manuscripts and Archives Digital Database.

The Last Days of the Coliseum, dir. Rich Hanley, 2010.

Perspecta 40, Edited by Marc Guberman, Jacob Reidel, and Frida Rosenberg.