Court Street Row Houses
6-30 Court Street, New Haven, CT 06511
street that primarily encourages pedestrian traffic. The street runs directly from the New Haven Green to the Wooster Square Green, beginning and ending at two significant public locations in New Haven. Thus, Court Street truly is a street that exists for the purpose of community, rather than simply for thoroughfare. The neighborhood of Wooster Square, where the row houses are situated, was historically an upper-class neighborhood, boasting many large homes directly around the historic square.7 Not unlike most neighborhoods, though, it underwent great change as a result of the increased industrialization of New Haven, and the Court Street Row Houses were built to extend the neighborhood to accommodate a broader range of economic demographics. With the advent of middle-income housing in Wooster Square, a great population of immigrants were ushered into the neighborhood representing many demographics, especially Italian immigrants. Thus, they were intended to be humble structures amidst an affluent neighborhood, although further, more recent gentrification of Wooster Square has made the block an exclusive address.
13 Court Street 1945-1946 Furnished rooms (rooming
house)
13 Court Street 1969 Apartments - two residents,
one vacant unit
13 Court Street 1983 Apartments - two residents
where the row houses were built was occupied by a multi-purpose community space known as “Mix’s Museum,” which featured various activities, including a wax statue museum, an ice
cream parlor, and a beer garden.9 Mix’s Museum sadly burned down in 1851, leaving a sad,
empty lot in its absence. Besides the museum was a lush community garden known as “the
Columbian Gardens,” the land which was later subdivided and sold to the Home Insurance
Company for development into the Court Street Row Houses. The longstanding history of
community on the land beneath the row houses perhaps contributes to the ongoing sense of pride and community that residents of Wooster Square and Court Street share to this day.
Company, in a grand gesture of urban investment, bought the block of Court Street and
constructed the Court Street Row Houses to provide middle-income housing amidst the affluent Wooster Square neighborhood. Yet, as the city became more industrialized, there became an increasing need for shorter-term, affordable housing, so the homeowners of the Court Street Row Houses converted them into furnished rooms, or rooming houses. Tenants of these units were predominantly new immigrants of Irish, Italian, German, or Jewish descent.8 When the Great Depression struck the United States, poverty overtook Wooster Square, and the rooming district that had emerged became derogatorily known as a “skid row,” as there was a great increase in crime. In the 1960s, the city of New Haven invested in the revitalization of the block, converting each home into two apartment units and creating strict laws surrounding renovation of the buildings in order to maintain their historical accuracy. Now, the residents of the Court Street Row Houses are a close-knit community of neighbors, representing a diverse racial demographic, but a similar economic level, and many occupants are associated with Yale University, a reminder of Yale’s fingerprints of gentrification all throughout the city of New Haven.
street that primarily encourages pedestrian traffic. The street runs directly from the New Haven Green to the Wooster Square Green, beginning and ending at two significant public locations in New Haven. Thus, Court Street truly is a street that exists for the purpose of community, rather than simply for thoroughfare. The neighborhood of Wooster Square, where the row houses are situated, was historically an upper-class neighborhood, boasting many large homes directly around the historic square.7 Not unlike most neighborhoods, though, it underwent great change as a result of the increased industrialization of New Haven, and the Court Street Row Houses were built to extend the neighborhood to accommodate a broader range of economic demographics. With the advent of middle-income housing in Wooster Square, a great population of immigrants were ushered into the neighborhood representing many demographics, especially Italian immigrants. Thus, they were intended to be humble structures amidst an affluent neighborhood, although further, more recent gentrification of Wooster Square has made the block an exclusive address.
Current Use
RowhouseMultiple Unit DwellingApartment HouseEra
1860-1910Architect
The Court Street Row Houses were built by the Home Insurance company, a fire insurance firm that helped fuel the development of residential New Haven in the 1860s by investing in real estate. The individual architect is not recorded, though they were likely associated with the Home Insurance Company.
Structural Conditions
Street Visibilities
Yes
Threats
None knownExternal Conditions
Dimensions
20 feet wide, 30 feet deep, 3 stories high
Style
ItalianateNeighborhood
Wooster SquareYear Built
1870
Roof Types
FlatResearcher
Street Visibilities
Yes
Owner
Hill, Kenneth; Coyle, George J.; Dzeda, Joseph; Luo, Bin & Guo, Lei; McTiernan, Jennifer; Bidolli, Brian T.; Keane, Ellen; Mendez, Lourdes; Kahn, Howard & Barbara; Cyriac, Mary; Benoit, Cordalie; Godleski, Nancy M; Winiarskyj, Adrian; Simmons, Camille; Jacovino, Elizabeth A.; Downey, Heidi J.; Jacovino, Elizabeth A.; Salazar, Sean; Chambers, Ronald F. (revocable trust); Wack, Carl J; Stevens, Seth A.; Knight, George C. & Meghan W F;
Client
The buildings were constructed by the Home Insurance Company, the largest fire insurance firm in New Haven, CT in the 1960s-70s. They intended to create a special sort of residential oasis amidst the Wooster Square neighborhood, even naming the community “Home Place,” alluding to aspirations of creating an excluded and separate neighborhood development within a preformed neighborhood.
Historic Uses
ResidentialComments
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