69-75 Daggett Street has a relatively straightforward history. The current building was built in 1910 by the Seamless Rubber Company to house their facilities. According to historical maps of New Haven, photographs of which are provided below, no building existed on the site until Seamless Rubber bought the property and built a factory there. The Seamless Rubber Company was founded in 1876 and later moved to a 375,000 square foot factory on Hallock Avenue, one block over from Daggett Street. Seamless Rubber began by producing nipples for baby’s bottles and was later immensely involved in production of various items used extensively by the armed forces during World War II. During its prime, the Seamless Rubber Company was so successful that a 1948 brochure produced by the New Haven Chamber of Commerce hailed the company as “one of the economic cornerstones of New Haven.”1 An interesting quote from the pamphlet describes the extent of the company’s production:



It can truly be said that Seamless follows each and every individual from the cradle to the grave. A baby is delivered with hands encased in Seamless surgical gloves, its first bottle feeding is from a Seamless nipple, its first tummy ache is easy by a Seamless hot water bottle, and as that baby grows to maturity, it will use at some time or other athletic equipment of the Seamless all-rubber molded type, Seamless “Stick-Bands” for cuts and bruises, a Seamless ice bag for an aching head and dozens of other Seamless products...Having been delivered by an obstetrician wearing Seamless Rubber gloves, it is quite possible that this same individual will be embalmed by a mortician wearing a Seamless autopsy glove.2



According to a permit in the New Haven Building Records Office, by 1967, the factory building was owned by a Mr. Joseph Waronka. Another building permit from 1973 indicates that Waronka removed makeshift partitions in the building in order to rent certain areas to tenants as loft spaces. In 1986, the building was sold to Daggett Street Square Incorporated who continued the trend of using the building for loft living. Finally, in 2004, the building was sold to 69-75 Daggett Street, LLC who currently owns the building and continues to rent the building to tenants as loft spaces and for factory production of assorted goods.



One incredibly interesting note about 69-75 Daggett Street is that although it is mainly used for loft style living, the majority of the tenants are artists who use their rented lofts as studio space as well. Fortunately for me, I was able to visit several of the lofts/studios as part of New Haven’s Open Studio events. This allowed me to tour the inside of the building and to take pictures of the building’s interior. Because of the building’s factory construction, the result of which is a very open interior, its architectural transition into an apartment building seems almost seamless. The hallways are navigable and the building, to a very large extent, retains facets of its days as a factory including old factory doors and windows which are documented in the pictures below.



1 “The Seamless Rubber Company: A Good New Haven Citizen.” New Haven Chamber of Commerce. August 1948.



2 Ibid.