William H. Taft Mansion

The William H. Taft Mansion is a two story French Second Empire style mansion across the street from the New Haven Museum on the busy Whitney Avenue that connects New Haven and Hamden. Despite being originally constructed in 1870, the building has been maintained beautifully, such that its condition could be likened to that of a building recently renovated. It was only owned by former president William H. Taft from around the time of the first World War to 1921, and Taft, a Yale graduate, never actually lived in the mansion that is encircled today by the ubiquitous Yale campus. The facade is pleasingly almost symmetrical, except for a difference in window spacing. It is constructed with load-bearing masonry and the exterior is done in stucco. The basement, which is visible from the driveway to the 23 space parking lot behind the building, is faced in stone. The building was historically a residence and then a business school, but is now home to the offices of Ivy Labs, a private education consulting firm that helps students apply to colleges.