Jewish Community Center
1156 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT 06511
Researcher
Jocelyn Wickersham
Entry Created
June 28, 2018
Showing photos 1 to 3 of 23
Key Info
This modernist building, with its horizontal façade of glass and marble, was designed by the famous architect Louis I. Kahn. It was constructed only a year after his addition to the Yale University Art Gallery just up the street,[1]and he later designed the Yale Center for British Art on the same block. Though now home to the Yale School of Art, this building was originally commissioned by the Greater New Haven Jewish Community.[2] Conceived as a “memorial dedicated to the men who have given their lives in the service of their country” in the words of John Fox, president of Jewish Center, the building was meant to embody ideals of dignity and beauty with its sleek aesthetic.[3]
[1]“Architecture: Louis Kahn Building,” (New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 2018), https://artgallery.yale.edu/about/architecture.
[2]Braffman, “Moving the Center,” in Jews in New Haven Volume VIII, 87.
[3]“Jewish Community Center Plans New Building: To Serve Community” (New Haven: New Haven Register, Sunday, December 9, 1951), Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven Archive.
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