The Matthew Elliott House

In 1825¹, the City of New Haven transformed a six-acre site east of downtown into what is now known as Wooster Square Park. The park was named in honor of David Wooster, a Revolutionary War militia leader born in Stratford, Connecticut. At the time, the development of the site conveyed the eastward momentum the city was experiencing².

As the spaces surrounding the park were developed, it became apparent that the neighborhood would come to display varying styles such as Greek Revival, Federal, Italian Villa, Italianate, Second Empire, and Queen Anne. Despite the stylistic differences, the residential neighborhood maintains harmony in that buildings like the Matthew Elliott House were constructed in the context of their surrounding architecture. In this way, Wooster Square saw a self-perpetuating pattern of buildings that sought to adhere to the quality of design present in the immediate area. To many architects, it was almost seen as a civic responsibility to frame the Wooster Square Park with appropriately contextualized buildings. Wooster Square’s residential buildings, like the Matthew Elliott House and Henry Austin’s 1845 Willis Bristol House, were seen by many as being worthy of protective status so as to preserve the valuable architectural relevance of the neighborhood. In 1971, following numerous efforts from the New Haven Preservation Trust, Wooster Square was designated under the National Register of Historic Places. After being threatened by demolition in the 1930s and later by plans for Interstate 91, Wooster Square persisted in large part due to the New Haven urban rehabilitation program. In 1965, the program brought about the construction of the Conti Community School. The program also renovated tenements found on Court Street in order to increase positive perceptions of what were seen as the neighborhood’s most unsightly buildings. Within the current context of the surrounding building materials, 541 Chapel Street stands as one of the few predominantly wooden structures remaining in Wooster Square. In 1886, the adjacent 523 Chapel Street plot was also identified as a wooden structure by that year’s Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. However, by 1911, 523 Chapel Street was partially converted into a brick structure. Soon after, the 1924 Sanborn Map reveals that the remaining wooden half of the site came to be a brick building as well. These maps reveal that in spite of their architectural reverence, many of the initial 19th-century Wooster Square buildings were frequently altered and in some cases demolished entirely. It follows that 541 Chapel Street also saw a series of structural changes and amendments throughout the last 191 years.