35-39 Church Street, New Haven, CT 06510

The Washington Building is located in New Haven’s historic 9th Square – its commercial vernacular style reflects its position in this historically commercial part of downtown New Haven. It is on the edge of the 9th Square, which has largely been left in tact with buildings dating between1820–1950. In contrast, The Washington Building stands directly across  from what was the Chapel Square Mall redevelopment, one of New Haven’s greatest buildings during the time of large-scale urban renewal; it currently exists as the site for the new Gateway Community College, reflecting the mutability just outside the traditional border of the 9th Square. Typical buildings of the 9th Square have the following characteristics: 3 to 5 stories in height, little or no setback form the sidewalk, brick as the predominant building material (sometimes with brownstone and other finishes); additionally, many of the structures feature decorative treatments in terra cotta, have supported cornices, moldings above the windows, and other decorative treatments to the façades. The Washington  Building exemplifies this style. It has three stories as well as a mezzanine and basement. It is of brick construction with terracotta details on the façade. It has a flat roof with a beautiful and pronounced modillion cornice, with denticular molding. The top half story is punctuated by tri-part window groupings. Above the other, square, windows on the rest of the building, there are large panels with cartouche enrichments in dramatic relief. There is also a two story molded architrave. Its first floor forms a clear storefront, with large windows.



Offices: Historically, the building has functioned as it does now with a commercial store front on the first floor and offices above. The tenants of the offices have changed and varied greatly. Lawyers are the most constant group of office occupants, having been there since the beginning of the 20th century. More broadly, insurance and small business owners also have been the main occupants of the offices in the Washington Building.



Store Front: In 1901, the restaurant Hof Brau Haus (sometimes Hofbrau Haus) opened on the corner (what today is 130 Crown St). It was immensely popular, as is evident from both a 1939 news article is headed, “August Janssen, Famed Restauranteur Who Opened Hofbrau Here, Dies At 72” as well as from its continued existence into the early 1970s. This corner would soon turn into a bar and club holding. By 1986, there is record of a basement café/club. In 1999, this idea would grow grand in scale with the establishment of Gotham City Café, a popular nightclub. Today, it’s name has changed to Empire, loosing the “café” part of the name, which had historically been a sort of euphemism for saloons, since at least the late 19th century when the Washington Building replaced salooons refered to as cafés (see article in image 6: “It was late in the nineties that the term saloon was dropped and these drinking emporiums adopted the European style of referring to them as cafes”). Other original tenants include Frolich Cigar Store and Nathan Kaufman Mens Furnishings. The Washington building in 1946 still maintained the same type of retail as it originally did: there existed a Schulte Cigars, Florsheim Shoes, and Whitten’s Haberdasher. From the 1960s until the 1990s, Gilden’s Jewelers existed, but then was replaced by a nail salon, as it is now.



Further Narrative: The building numbering 35–39 Church St. in New Haven. maintains its appellation “The Washington Building”. Church Street has been a commercial strip long before the Washington Building’s construction. In 1849, there was a boot and shoe emporium at 35 Church St. and in 1856, a Chinese tea store at 33 1/2 Church St. The Washington Building replaced one of New Haven’s earliest hotels, the Central House—sometimes referred to as the Main’s Hotel. Refer to Image 6 for this change. The intersection of Crown and Church St. has been a main thoroughfare of downtown New Haven long before the Washington Building was constructed, as evidence by the density of buildings and transportation (horse and buggy, then streetcar, and finally automobiles) in the historical images attached.



Edward M. Clark sold the Washington Building in 1911 to Nicholas W. Hubinger. The Hubinger family formed the Hubinger Holding Company to manage the ownership of the building and the tenants. This ownership transferred to Woostock Realty Incorporated in 1953, and is now in the hands of 39 Church St. LLC



(IMAGES MISSING FOR THIS BUILDING)