ACES Educational Center for the Arts (ECA) Theater

Other than the former Mishkan Israel building, ACES also owns other properties in the surrounding area; the Little Theatre on Lincoln Street which is used for performances,and the nextdoor two-story 388 Orange Street (55 Audubon has also been identified over time as 380 Orange Street, depending on the entrance), and another neighbor condo space, which are used as classrooms. The possession of multiple buildings on the same block allows for the charter school to have “programming in one contiguous area.” ACES purchased 388 Orange Street, formally a law office, for $975,000 in 2022. The New Haven Independent quoted Leonard Fasano, the building's prior owner, who claimed that ACES was the “perfect tenant” for the two-story building, given that they “understand the neighborhood” and its architecture. 388 Orange Street features similar red brick to its neighboring site.

To fully understand the neighborhood in which the ACES building sits, it's important to consider contexts of urban renewal and deliberate city planning. The Orange Street Historic District, within which 55 Audubon Street is located, is cataloged in the National Register of Historic Places. The neighborhood is referred to by the City of New Haven as the “Whitney-Audubon Retail and Arts District.” In addition to the arts school buildings, the area boasts a distinctly artistic feel— the Neighborhood Music School, Connecticut Public Radio, New Haven Ballet, Brisé Dance Academy, Knit New Haven, Koffee?, which sells homemade art and printed shirts, and MINI-PNG, a newer independent hand-made and upcycled clothing shop. This concentration of art performance, education, and retail space is intentional.

In the 1960s, due to urban renewal, much of Audubon Street was vacant. The area along Audubon Street, in the period of suburbanization in which Mishkan Israel moved, had become “a wasteland of rundown factories.” ACES was founded in 1969; this means that 55 Audubon Street sat empty between 1960 when it was sold to the city and ACES’s inception. Many buildings in the surrounding area, such as the old FBI building, were torn down in this time. The Arts Council of Greater New Haven Inc. envisioned the area to become an arts center. The New York Times in 1987 reported that City officials, in remaking the neighborhood and establishing arts institutions, intended to “create an image for the city as the cultural center of Connecticut and for downtown New Haven as a stimulating place to live.”

The New Haven Register describes these changes to Audubon Street in the 1950s and 1960s as an “extreme makeover,” a success story in urban redevelopment. The Register attributes the success of such redevelopment to the mixed-use development model employed by the city, in which education, housing, retail, and institutional buildings were located together, allowing for tax and rent income. The location of housing close to arts sites meant that there was always an audience to attend performances.

There is both visual and thematic continuity on Audubon street. Much of the buildings are built with a similar red brick.

Congregation Mishkan Israel; 1896-1960, ACES Educational Center for the Arts; 1969-Present

There is little information available about the site prior to its purchase in the 1800s by Mishkan Israel. The congregation self-reports in their chronicle of Mishkan Israel’s history that the congregation “purchased a lot.” One may assume there was not a building there prior.

The community that founded Mishkan Israel on Audubon Street is considered the first synagogue community formally documented in the City of New Haven. This community’s organized prayer dates back to 1840– a somewhat controversial date given that non-Christian organizations could not legally form in Connecticut until 1843. Five Jewish families petitioned the legislature that was sitting at the time in New Haven for recognition; it was these families that eventually founded Mishkan Israel.

These families were German Jews from Bavaria who came to New Haven in 1838. Tamar Gendler, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale is actually descendant from these families. By 1840, the families were holding minyanim (ritualistic group prayers consisting of more than ten people) in a local furniture store. The group had a relationship with Yale even then. Rabbi Herbert Brockman, Rabbi Emeritus at Mishkan Israel who has done much historical research into the congregation, said that the President of Yale at the time attended a Shabbat dinner with the congregation because he was interested in hearing Hebrew spoken orally in Jewish prayer.

In 1856 the synagogue community bought their first building, which was formally the Third Third Congregational Church on Court Street. The Third Congregational Church then merged with the North Church on the New Haven Green, now known as the United Church on the Green because of this unification. The Jewish community operated services out of that church building until its relocation to the Audubon Street location in the 1890s. Construction efforts broke ground in 1895, and the building was formally dedicated in 1897.

The building was designed to be grand— of the “the most stately shrines in the East.” There is much symbolism behind the dramatic, lavish, detailed Moorish revival architecture; it served as a statement on the standing of the community in the United States. Furthermore, it is relevant to reflect on the construction of a Moorish style building by German immigrants in the context of orientalism.

These German Jews were Ashkenazi, of Eastern European descent. In Moorish lands, a synagogue would have been occupied by Sephardi Jews, Jews of descendance from the Iberian Peninsula. Moorish architecture was not the inherited, traditional architectural style of the German community that built / commissioned Congregation Mishkan Israel. Scholars of Moorish revival synagogue architecture note that this is a pattern: almost all Moorish revival synagogues in this era were built by Askenazi Jews in the diaspora. In the United States, Jewish communities built synagogues that could represent new religious freedoms. Scholars believe Moorish architecture to be a reference to the Jews of the Golden Age of Spain before Jewish expulsion, who were well integrated into civic and cultural life. Emily Jelen of Binghamton University writes: “These Jews, living in medieval Spain, were known to be knowledgeable and active in both religious Jewish life and secular life. The Jews of the nineteenth century may have therefore been trying to compare themselves to the Sephardic Jews.” The elaborate Moorish revival architecture at 55 Audubon was more than just eye-catching or elegant, it was a statement on the role of the Jewish community as integral to both religious and modern cultural life. The architectural allusion to the past served as a plea for modern relevance. Orientalism, a simplified, idealized, and colonialist representation of the Middle East and Asia, is also a factor in the construction of Moorish synagogues. Scholar Ivan Davidson Klemar writes that the use of Orientalist architecture was an attempt to put a positive spin on Jewish othering in diasporic lands: “During the period when Moorish-style synagogues were built, the Jews were considered by others and by themselves as the Orientals of the West. They hoped to make Orientalist idealizations of themselves prevail over the Orientalist vituperations,” he writes.

Whether due to the architectural inspirations of the Moorish revival style or not, the congregation did come to hold a social prominence. The building served, as it still does as ACES, as a recognizable landmark. And Mishkan Israel became an epicenter for Jewish life in New Haven; there were public service and interfaith action groups, and well-attended Torah and teaching services. Several Mishkan Israel congregants were well-regarded and influential New Haveners; congregant Maier Zunder, for example, became head of the New Haven Board of Education in 1881 and had an extensive public service career. Lewis Osterweis owned a cigar factory on Church Street. During World War I The Sisterhood of Congregation Mishkan Israel played a significant role in charity aid; the group even had their own office to conduct their work. Many decades later, Rabbi Robert Goldburg, Mishkan Israel’s Rabbi, rose to near-celebrity status when he oversaw the conversion to Judaism of Marilyn Monroe before her marriage in 1956.

A survey of historical factors that led to Mishkan Israel’s relocation to Hamden reveals that the move in 1960 was necessitated, in part, because of the synagogue’s ultimate success; the size of the congregation kept increasing. An op/ed preserved by the The Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven identified three factors which contributed to Mishkan Israel’s move: a lack of space to accommodate congregants, a lack of parking, and “decay of the urban center,” presumably the abandonment or demolition of nearby buildings at this time. The congregation originally considered adding to the existing Sunday school building on Audubon Street (assumingly the accompanying building next to the synagogue evident on the Sanborn fire maps), yet the lot was too small to accommodate an expansion. Additionally, building codes in New Haven would not allow for the demolishment of the present synagogue building. The City then mandated repairs for plumbing and fire updates at the Audubon location, which would have been costly; the Board decided to relocate entirely. Many congregants were moving to suburbs such as Hamden and Westville, which remain Jewish neighborhoods today. Hannah Chaikind, Mishkan Israel’s librarian, noted that the suburbs became increasingly popular for synagogue members because one could buy more land for less; a building could be built more cheaply in Hamden to accommodate more.

These trends are consistent with suburbanization and white flight characteristic of the post-war era. As more of the Jewish community left the city, they would need to drive to get to synagogue; hence, the area could not accommodate increased parking needs. Between 1950 to 1980 New Haven’s urban population shrunk by 23%, while the suburban population increased by over 231% in the same time. Additionally, between 1950 and 1990, as New Haven's Black and Hispanic populations increased, the white population decreased. White flight is characterized as the exodus of white residents from a neighborhood when there is an influx of residents of color.

In summary, the establishment and eventual abandonment of 55 Audubon Street by the Mishkan Israel community is representative of greater urban themes throughout the decades: Jewish immigration and diasporic conceptions, Jewish urban population growth, suburbanization, automobile reliance, white flight, and urban renewal.

Other than the former Mishkan Israel building, ACES also owns other properties in the surrounding area; the Little Theatre on Lincoln Street which is used for performances,and the nextdoor two-story 388 Orange Street (55 Audubon has also been identified over time as 380 Orange Street, depending on the entrance), and another neighbor condo space, which are used as classrooms. The possession of multiple buildings on the same block allows for the charter school to have “programming in one contiguous area.” ACES purchased 388 Orange Street, formally a law office, for $975,000 in 2022. The New Haven Independent quoted Leonard Fasano, the building's prior owner, who claimed that ACES was the “perfect tenant” for the two-story building, given that they “understand the neighborhood” and its architecture. 388 Orange Street features similar red brick to its neighboring site.

To fully understand the neighborhood in which the ACES building sits, it's important to consider contexts of urban renewal and deliberate city planning. The Orange Street Historic District, within which 55 Audubon Street is located, is cataloged in the National Register of Historic Places. The neighborhood is referred to by the City of New Haven as the “Whitney-Audubon Retail and Arts District.” In addition to the arts school buildings, the area boasts a distinctly artistic feel— the Neighborhood Music School, Connecticut Public Radio, New Haven Ballet, Brisé Dance Academy, Knit New Haven, Koffee?, which sells homemade art and printed shirts, and MINI-PNG, a newer independent hand-made and upcycled clothing shop. This concentration of art performance, education, and retail space is intentional.

In the 1960s, due to urban renewal, much of Audubon Street was vacant. The area along Audubon Street, in the period of suburbanization in which Mishkan Israel moved, had become “a wasteland of rundown factories.” ACES was founded in 1969; this means that 55 Audubon Street sat empty between 1960 when it was sold to the city and ACES’s inception. Many buildings in the surrounding area, such as the old FBI building, were torn down in this time. The Arts Council of Greater New Haven Inc. envisioned the area to become an arts center. The New York Times in 1987 reported that City officials, in remaking the neighborhood and establishing arts institutions, intended to “create an image for the city as the cultural center of Connecticut and for downtown New Haven as a stimulating place to live.”

The New Haven Register describes these changes to Audubon Street in the 1950s and 1960s as an “extreme makeover,” a success story in urban redevelopment. The Register attributes the success of such redevelopment to the mixed-use development model employed by the city, in which education, housing, retail, and institutional buildings were located together, allowing for tax and rent income. The location of housing close to arts sites meant that there was always an audience to attend performances.

There is both visual and thematic continuity on Audubon street. Much of the buildings are built with a similar red brick.

The building features two twin towers and T-shaped orange brick. The main front facade from which fourteen stairs from the entrance descend down to Orange Street is gabled; the two towers flank the sides symmetrically. The central front facing portion of the building features three tall arched radius windows which are outlined by elaborate floral brownstone carvings, a “modillioned entablature,” and thin corinthian engaged columns. A thick ledge separates the columns and windows from the entrance portion to the lobby. The front facade and entrance are supported by four thick, embellished square columns, which hold visual continuity and alignment with the columns separating the window. There are three entrance doors. A wild plant grows off one the ledge. The roof is flat, and features a “full entablature” and “heavy finials on the corners.” The towers have corners and are rectangular, each featuring a small rectangular window at the highest outlook, a row of two arched windows below it, and a final row of two arched windows below that; each window is surrounded by small amounts of brownstown engravings as well. The towers are topped by octagonal portions that feature open arches, and a tiled, rust-green copper top, with a straight pointy copper spire at each top. Along Audubon, several more large arched stained glass windows face the street, as well as a large arched window on the bottom floor, which allows a view of a basement lobby downstairs.

The abstract stained glass radius windows, juxtaposed by the elaborate traditional stone carving around the arches, are clearly a modern addition. The windows feature square and semi-secular colored panels—green, orange, yellow, and blue— supported by thick purple steel beams.

In 2001, ACES proposed major interior renovations to the building; Mishkan Israel congregants became worried that the building’s stained glass windows would be destroyed in this process and negotiated with the City to remove the windows. The modern replacements were installed then by Commercial Storefront Services.

The synagogue’s old windows are housed mainly in the basement of its relocated site in Hamden, and have been well-cataloged. Some of the old windows have been preserved and incorporated into the rotunda hallway of the Mishkan Israel Hamden location.

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