Duchess Diner

The earliest record found was that the property was a two story brick residence first of William Canada from 1868-1888, then of Edwin A. Hotchkiss. The last resident of the building was Lulu K. Baldwin who willed the property to the Yale School of Medicine, to which her husband had strong ties, in 1947.



From 1947 until 1955 little is known about the fate of the two-story residence, but one can assume it fell into disrepair with no owner. A 1949 survey sites that the “USA occupies locus as a recruiting station”. Whatever the cause, the building was demolished to make way for its current occupant.



In 1955 the Duchess Diner was built by Harold and Jack Berkowitz. The Berkowitz family continues to own a local chain of Duchess Restaurants. The diner itself was manufactured by The Mountain View Diners Company in Singac, NJ. Founded in 1939, one source cites the comp...any as a “very aggressive marketer in the early 1950's, shipping diners to buyers all over the country. Their trademark was a unique corner detail known as the "cowcatcher". The corner detail of the diner remains intact, but the company closed in 1957.



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Between 1977 and1980 Ross Proctor takes over the Duchess. In Diners of New England Randy Garbin describes Proctor’s attempt to “fashion the 1955 Mountain View after the diner-as-bistro precedent established by Manhattan’s Empire Diner in 1976. In that case, Jack Doenias took a run-down midtown diner in a depressed neighborhood and introduced haute cuisine. The irony struck chords in both the New York art and restaurant scenes, with repercussion throughout the country. Proctor attempted something similar with the Elm City, introducing subdued mood lighting, a dress code, a baby grand piano, and gourmet menu items. Customers sipped fine wines while listening to live jazz. But unlike the Empire diner, here the concept didn’t take.” Between 1993 and 1997 The Tandoor took over the diner and currently serves Indian cuisine a unique location making view permanent alterations to the historic diner.