George W. Bromley Building

254 State Street building is a 3 1/2-story, brick Queen Anne style comemricial row building. The first floor is a space for musical performances and the second and third stories are housings.

George W. Bromley; Isadore Freedman; Sterling Shoe Company (Augustus E. Lebrun); he New Haven Leather Co. and T.J. McDermott,

According the New Haven Historic Resources Inventory, the building on 254/256 State Street "was probably erected for George W. Bromley in 1885 on the 33 by 65 foot State Street lot which he acquired from John Bromley on September 24th of that same year. This building replaced an earlier store building which land records indicate had stood on the site since at least the second decade of the nineteenth century (See 1824 map below, one can see a residential building).

On October 6, 1905, George Bromley sold the property, including this building, to Isadore Freedman, who owned the abutting building to the north. Freedman sold the property exactly two weeks later to Augustus E. Lebrun, under whose name it is listed on a 1911 map (See 1911 New Haven Atlas). According to the New Haven City Directories of this period, LeBrun was the proprietor of the Sterling Shoe Company, which was located in this building." According to the 1910 New Haven City Directory, Edward F. Smith's Brass, Wrought Iron, and Wire company resided next door to LeBrun's Sterling Shoe Company. Three years later, the 1913 New Haven City Directory would show that Smith's company had been replaced by the Keystone Press. Following World War II, the State Street Redevelopment and Renewal Plan would completely transform this area of lower State Street through a combination of redevelopment and rehabilitation in an attempt to strengthen the Central Business District and revitalize what had become obsolete or blighted. This plan would also ultimately see the the last known companies to have been established in this building, the New Haven Leather Co. and T.J. McDermott, two companies that were around until 1999.



Today, 254/256 State Street has left behind its commercial identity and has returned to its original residential identity. This building is owned by the Dean of the Yale School of Art, Robert V. Storr, and his wife and acclaimed musician, Rosamund H. Morley Storr. According to sources at Cafe Nine, the Dean and his wife have converted the first floor into a space for casual musical performances and the hosting of guests and the second and third stories into housing, all of which are obscured from view by big, white curtains.

The building is located on the western side of State Street between Crown Street and Chapel Street. Aside from the abutting buildings, 254/256 State Street is surrounded by vacant buildings and surface parking lots.

The structure at 254 State Street is a 3 1/2 story, brick Queen Anne style commercial row building with a broad two bay wide facade plan featuring two first story commercial entrances. The structure's load bearing exterior brick walls are laid in stretcher bond. The main tablature is decoratively treated with a projecting main cornice. The first and second story facade windows are arranged in two series of three windows set within decoratively treated in-fill frame wall panels set within brick frames delineated by projecting brick pilasters. The raised beltcourse is framed by rows of vertical bricks in sawtooth pattern which spans the facade's brick walls between the first and second stories. The present first story commercial front was probably installed in the mid-20th century. There is a cut stone trim at the top of the facade's second and third story window in-fill panels. The roof is flat and covered in T&G/Rubber. The interior walls consist of masonry and the interior floors are a pine, soft wood. This building has a total of six rooms, two of which are bedrooms. It also has one full bath, two half baths, and an outdoor balcony/patio area located on the third floor. This building is a relatively intact example of the type of commercial Queen Anne style row buildings which were erected along lower State Street during the final decades of the 19th century. This building is one of the few of its type which remain standing in this area.

Historic Resources Inventory, State of Connecticut, Connecticut Historical Commission, 59 South Prospect Street, Hartford, CT 06106



The Dana Collection, New Haven Museum