Albert Arnold Sprague Memorial Hall

Sprague Hall sits near the center of Yale University’s campus and is surrounded by many other Yale buildings that offer similar functions. For example, Harkness Hall, which quite literally encircles half of Sprague Hall, includes multiple seminar and lecture-style classrooms and is a place where many music classes take place and acapella groups practice. On the other side of Alexander Walk lies Woolsey Hall and the greater Schwarzman Center complex. Similar to Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall, Woolsey Hall is a place where music performances often occur. From professional musicians who utilize the built-in organ to student groups like the Yale Symphony Orchestra that hold widely-attended events like the Halloween concert, Woolsey Hall is somewhat of a sister venue to Sprague Hall. Right across College Street from Sprague Hall is Stoeckel Hall, which houses many of the facilities for the Yale Music Department that serves undergraduate students. Down College Street towards Old Campus and The Green and in the same block as Stoeckel Hall, one can find the other buildings that comprise the Yale School of Music, including Leigh Hall and Hendrie Hall. In totality, these structures around Sprague Hall form the heart of music on Yale’s campus.



Although all of these buildings serve the same greater purpose, from an architectural perspective, Sprague Hall is quite distinct from all of them. In material, only Stoeckel Hall uses red brick for its walls like Sprague Hall (Hendrie Hall also uses brick for its plain side walls, but the main façade that faces the street is largely comprised of some type of white stone, indicating that the brick used is simply structural and does not significantly contribute to the building’s presence). Even then, Stoeckel Hall is still quite different due to its use of a beige-colored brick in many places, the intricate stonework placed around the central windows and roof line, and the less prominent windows that are used around much of the building. Moreover, Stoeckel Hall is, in many respects, not as noticeable as Sprague Hall. This may be because, even though the stonework is elegant and unique, the building is set back from the sidewalk by green hedges and the comparative lack of glass omits a reflective surface from the building’s façade that would have otherwise drawn the eyes to it. On the whole, Sprague Hall stands out from many of its surrounding buildings but is still able to act as a cohesive element in the part of campus where it resides.



Another interesting feature around Sprague Hall that gives the building more presence is the pathway that runs alongside the length of the building. This pathway is currently called Alexander Walk, but for much of the time that Sprague Hall has occupied its current location, the area next to it was a continuation of Wall Street. The change from car lanes to pedestrian walkway began in 1990 when Yale and the City of New Haven agreed to close off the street to car traffic. For over two decades, this former road sat as it was even though its function had changed. Not until 2013 did Yale officially buy the land and announce that it would be rebuilt, and the reconstruction of the area into Alexander Walk was only recently completed in 2021. This change further incorporated Sprague Hall into the broader Yale campus by connecting Cross Campus and two of Yale College’s residential colleges with the Schwarzman Center and Beinecke Plaza, thus facilitating increased exposure to Yale students and members of the New Haven community.

Yale University (School of Music)

The land that Sprague Hall currently sits on has only been occupied by one other building since the inception of New Haven. In an aerial map of Yale and the greater New Haven area, one can see that on the corner of College Street and Wall Street, there lies a prominent house with two stories and a mansard roof that encompasses a third floor. Indeed, an 1888 Sanborn Insurance map of New Haven indicates that this was the dwelling of Reverend Timothy Dwight V, the 12th President of Yale. Reverend Dwight bought the house when he served as a professor at the university and only sold it to the university after he retired from the presidency position in 1899. The house was then given to the newly formed Yale School of Music as a building it could use for its operations. Unfortunately, little else is known about the building. Dwight’s former house was the last building remaining at the intersection of Wall Street and College Street that harkened back to the days of a residential street in the area. It was finally torn down in 1916 in preparation for the building of Sprague Hall.

Sprague Hall has been occupied by Yale University since its construction in 1917. As stated in the donation that provided the funding to construct the building, Sprague Hall was “to advance the best interests of music and to widen the usefulness of Yale University.” Indeed, since its inception, Sprague Hall has been a preeminent location for musical performances in New Haven. However, as a building owned by an elite institution, Sprague Hall may also have inadvertently created a divide between those who could and those who could not experience classical music. This is perhaps metaphorically demonstrated by the sparkling white interior of Morse Recital Hall which lives inside Sprague Hall, a sharp contrast to what was then a predominantly industrial city. Music should be accessible to all, and yet, Sprague Hall may have selectively discluded some due to the context of its existence. There is, of course, no concrete historical evidence to suggest that such a divide truly existed, but especially within the context of today’s discourse surrounding the relationship between Yale and New Haven, it is nearly impossible not to think about what effect Sprague Hall had on perceptions of music and other forms of “high culture.” It is possible that the university and architects sought to limit the effect of this perception of inaccessibility through its design. Sprague Hall is large but not imposing; distinct yet modest; ever-present but not in-your-face. Especially with some more recent changes, such as the inclusion of partially glass doors, Sprague Hall creates an inviting air that beckons people from all walks of life to enter. The conversion of Wall Street into a pedestrian walkway further emphasizes this point. As detailed above, Wall Street used to cut between Sprague Hall and the Scroll and Key Tomb to connect College Street with York Street, but in 2021, its reconstruction into a fully pedestrian walkway was completed. Such an undertaking was almost certainly done to further connect the Yale campus by combining Cross Campus and the Schwarzman Center, but one side effect has been to make Sprague Hall literally more accessible. This is because the new Alexander Walkway encourages more foot traffic in the area, bringing in more people who may have otherwise not visited the area. As a center of music for Yale and the New Haven community, Sprague Hall should ensure that music is available to all who wish to enjoy it and act as a centerpiece that can bring the community together even as various other issues create more divides between Yale and the people of New Haven.

Sprague Hall sits near the center of Yale University’s campus and is surrounded by many other Yale buildings that offer similar functions. For example, Harkness Hall, which quite literally encircles half of Sprague Hall, includes multiple seminar and lecture-style classrooms and is a place where many music classes take place and acapella groups practice. On the other side of Alexander Walk lies Woolsey Hall and the greater Schwarzman Center complex. Similar to Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall, Woolsey Hall is a place where music performances often occur. From professional musicians who utilize the built-in organ to student groups like the Yale Symphony Orchestra that hold widely-attended events like the Halloween concert, Woolsey Hall is somewhat of a sister venue to Sprague Hall. Right across College Street from Sprague Hall is Stoeckel Hall, which houses many of the facilities for the Yale Music Department that serves undergraduate students. Down College Street towards Old Campus and The Green and in the same block as Stoeckel Hall, one can find the other buildings that comprise the Yale School of Music, including Leigh Hall and Hendrie Hall. In totality, these structures around Sprague Hall form the heart of music on Yale’s campus.



Although all of these buildings serve the same greater purpose, from an architectural perspective, Sprague Hall is quite distinct from all of them. In material, only Stoeckel Hall uses red brick for its walls like Sprague Hall (Hendrie Hall also uses brick for its plain side walls, but the main façade that faces the street is largely comprised of some type of white stone, indicating that the brick used is simply structural and does not significantly contribute to the building’s presence). Even then, Stoeckel Hall is still quite different due to its use of a beige-colored brick in many places, the intricate stonework placed around the central windows and roof line, and the less prominent windows that are used around much of the building. Moreover, Stoeckel Hall is, in many respects, not as noticeable as Sprague Hall. This may be because, even though the stonework is elegant and unique, the building is set back from the sidewalk by green hedges and the comparative lack of glass omits a reflective surface from the building’s façade that would have otherwise drawn the eyes to it. On the whole, Sprague Hall stands out from many of its surrounding buildings but is still able to act as a cohesive element in the part of campus where it resides.



Another interesting feature around Sprague Hall that gives the building more presence is the pathway that runs alongside the length of the building. This pathway is currently called Alexander Walk, but for much of the time that Sprague Hall has occupied its current location, the area next to it was a continuation of Wall Street. The change from car lanes to pedestrian walkway began in 1990 when Yale and the City of New Haven agreed to close off the street to car traffic. For over two decades, this former road sat as it was even though its function had changed. Not until 2013 did Yale officially buy the land and announce that it would be rebuilt, and the reconstruction of the area into Alexander Walk was only recently completed in 2021. This change further incorporated Sprague Hall into the broader Yale campus by connecting Cross Campus and two of Yale College’s residential colleges with the Schwarzman Center and Beinecke Plaza, thus facilitating increased exposure to Yale students and members of the New Haven community.