Cama Inc.

At first glance, one can immediately identify that the building located at 31 Audubon St, New Haven, CT is a commercial building — the prominent corporate Cama sign in front of the building and the parking area attached to the right side of the building (when facing it from Audubon St) are dead giveaways. However, upon further inspection, this building looks like a residential structure architecturally. First, the porch out front makes the building feel like a home; moreover, the understated red brick facade fails to deliver on the traditional grand and imposing characteristics of office space. Furthermore, at 2.5 stories, this building seems rather petite, and the half-story attic at the top of it makes the entire building seem like a single-family home. Yet the building is indeed occupied by an interior design firm called Cama Inc. This tension between the architecture of the building and its current use reveals the building’s transformation from the initially residential Merriman-Hotchkiss House to office space occupied by Cama Inc. — a transformation that many nearby buildings appear to have also undergone.