Yale New Haven Hospital, East Pavilion

Shielded from Yale University’s central campus by an enormous parking structure, the East Pavilion greets visitors to the Yale-New Haven Hospital—a massive healthcare complex that sits adjacent to the Yale School of Medicine. Formerly called the Memorial Unit of Grace-New Haven Hospital, the East Pavilion once rose high above the surrounding, non-affiliated structures. However, over time, the hospital adopted its current name and expanded its operations on the site, adding three connecting buildings. Today, the monumental East Pavilion reminds visitors of post-World War II modernism, with a visual and symbolic attachment to the Oak St. Connector and the nearby highway. In its X-shaped structure, horizontally oriented facades, and simplistic design, the East Pavilion embodies a moment in American urbanism and marks the foundation of a renowned healthcare institution.

Grace-New Haven Hospital (1953-1965)

Renamed Yale-New Haven Hospital (1965-present)

The East Pavilion of Yale-New Haven Hospital sits on a site with a history of residential, religious, and commercial use. In 1886, the site housed a tenement building, residential units, and St. Elizabeth’s Convent, which would later become St. John’s Convent (5, 6, 7). An 1879 hand-drawn map represents the residential units in narrow, row-house forms (8). In 1911, the tenement building moved across York Street, prompting the development of more residential units. The site housed a predominantly Italian and Anglo-American community, with residents like Ganeto Givia, Mary Godley, and Geo Montano (9). In 1917, commercial entities opened on the site: the tailor Jacob Krantz followed by “The Folding Mattress Co.” and an auto dealer/repair shop in 1924 (7 and 10). 

In 1953, the Grace-New Haven Hospital opened its Memorial Unit on the site. Designed by the Office of Douglas Orr, a renowned architecture firm, the building marked the first of many additions that would come to fill the block. After the 1972 addition of two stories to the Memorial Unit, the (renamed) Yale-New Haven Hospital built the South Pavilion (1982), the West Pavilion (1993), and Smilow Cancer Hospital (2009) (2). An atrium was also constructed in 1993 to provide a central connection between the Pavilions.

Yale University’s ties to the hospital predate the facility’s formal name change in 1965 from “Grace-New Haven Community Hospital” to “Yale-New Haven Hospital” (2). At the foundation of the Memorial Unit, the two entities signed “a Joint Declaration of Policy concerning mutual support of professional education and patient care programs and the required facilities” (3). The Memorial Unit’s renaming as the East Pavilion did not change the function of the building, which has remained relatively constant since its erection. However, as the Yale-New Haven Hospital expanded, certain functional aspects shifted, prompting interior renovations and remodeling. 

While the East Pavilion has seen little to no change in ownership, tenancy, function, and organization, the building’s construction paved the way for future expansion, ultimately characterizing the surrounding area as a medical metropolis. The hospital’s relative ease in dominating the block enclosed by York St., S. Frontage Rd., Park St., and Howard Ave. can be attributed to the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation’s redlining tactics. In 1937, the HOLC marked the neighborhood within a yellow (or “definitely declining”) district. The report’s clarifying remarks describe the area’s “detrimental influences” as “age of dwellings as well as bad odors from the south where there is a rubber plant situated” (4). The report identified the population as mixed-race, further priming the land for assumption by a more powerful entity. Only a decade later, the Grace-New Haven Hospital’s Memorial Unit marked the beginning of an expansion that has enveloped the community. 

The East Pavilion’s renovations—specifically in conversation with the adjacent Yale School of Medicine—spread Yale’s visible influence throughout the area. The repainting (in “Yale Blue”) of both the building’s exterior and the surrounding fencing and signage draws a visible attachment between the educational and healthcare facilities. While Yale’s campus does not form a continuous presence along York Street, the East Pavilion, its renovations, the hospital’s additions, and the Yale School of Medicine position the area as a distinctly Yale region of the city.

As one of Yale-New Haven Hospital’s four pavilions, the East Pavilion no longer reads as an independent structure. In addition to the East Pavilion, the block enclosed by York Street, South Frontage Road, Park Street, and Howard Avenue boasts the South Pavilion, the Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital (West Pavilion), and the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven. These buildings rise across the street from the massive Yale School of Medicine, which spans two blocks. The area is enclosed on one side by a two-block, multi-story, modernist parking structure, which signifies a functional and architectural shift as one enters the neighborhood. Beyond the shadows of the parking garage, which also houses two fast-food chains, the visitor emerges into a distinctly medical area, with the East Pavilion to the right and the Yale Medical School to the left. 

Formerly the standalone “Memorial Unit” of Grace-New Haven Hospital, the East Pavilion of Yale-New Haven Hospital represents a striking component of a massive healthcare complex that sits within a healthcare-oriented region of New Haven. Douglas Orr’s simple, modernist, concrete structure rises amidst a cluttered assemblage of connecting buildings, each constructed in a different decade. However, the building’s symmetrical, X-shaped plan seems to have anticipated this expansion, as two of the East Pavilion’s wings now directly connect to the additions. While the East Pavilion does not form a perfect cross, the structure shares the simplistic, modern monumentality of Le Corbusier’s “Radiant City” towers.

The East Pavilion’s four wings extend from an octagonal central node, which rises two stories above the rest of the building. Built in 1953, with the addition of the 9^thand 10^thfloors in 1972, the building’s historical alterations remain subtly visible in the shifting of the window pattern. The exterior exudes horizontality, noticeably in conversation with the geometry of the adjacent parking structure, various bridged pathways, the street, and the nearby highway. The blue coloring that alternates with the beige sections provides this horizontal alternation and declares the structures affiliation with Yale, which is reiterated by the building’s fencing and signage. 

1.   “Memorial Unit, Yale New Haven Hospital,” Historic Resources Inventory: Building and Structures, New Haven Preservation Trust, Compiled by Preston Maynard, 1981. http://newhavenmodern.org/all-buildings?dir=asc&order=date.

2.    "History and Heritage." Yale New Haven Hospital. https://www.ynhh.org/about/hospital-overview/history-heritage.aspx.

3.    "Grace-New Haven Community Hospital and Hospital of Saint Raphael, 1940's and 1950's." New Haven's Hospitals. May, 2000. http://doc1.med.yale.edu/news/exhibits/hospitals/1940s.html.

4.   Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, Map of New Haven, 1937, “Mapping Inequality,” https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=11/41.3030/-72.9225&opacity=0.8&city=new-haven-ct

5.   Sanborn Map Co., Insurance Maps of new Haven, Connecticut, Vol. 2, 1886, 33.  

6.   Sanborn Map Co., Insurance Maps of new Haven, Connecticut, Vol. 2, 1901, 143.

7.   Sanborn Map Co., Insurance Maps of new Haven, Connecticut, Vol. 1, 1924, 16.

8.   “York Street from the Wall Map of 1879,” Dana Collection. 

9.    Cassius W. Kelly, "Atlas of New Haven, Connecticut." Map. Boston, MA: O.W. Walker, 1911. https://yalemaps.maps.arcgis.com/apps/PublicInformation/index.html?appid=1bfd537a633141c88a7ae5446a99024a.

10.1917 New Haven Directory, New Haven Museum, 1917.

11.1927 New Haven and West Haven Directory, New Haven Museum, 1927.