Yale To Raze 12 Buildings for Student Housing
By Tricia McCarter-Joseph | Online Only | Aug. 19, 2009
Slated for demolition: 1904 Hammond Hall, Yale Metallurgical Laboratory, designed by W. Gedney Beatty
Credit: Sven Martson for the New Haven Urban Design League
Yale University is set to raze 12 buildings in the Hillhouse neighborhood of New Haven, Conn., to make way for two new dormitories. The demolition of the buildings, some of which date to the 1800s, will begin later this year and will level two city blocks.
University President Richard C. Levin says the school wants to increase undergraduate enrollment by 15 percent and must decrease current residential overcrowding. He also says that Yale currently accepts fewer than 10 percent of the 20,000 applications it receives each year and is forced to deny admission to worthy students.
"This expansion will allow us to make an even greater contribution to society by preparing a larger number of talented and promising students of all backgrounds for leadership and service," Levin says.
But Christopher Wigren, deputy director of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, objects to the idea of clearing the six-acre site.
"We would like to see serious consideration for including some of these buildings in the final design of the new schools," Wigren says.
He adds that one of the most important of the structures is the house of professor Daniel Cady Eaton, built c. 1890. Eaton was one of the first professors of botany in the country and oversaw Yale's Herbarium for over 30 years.
However, none of the buildings are listed on the national or state historic registers, which may have protected them from demolition. According to Anstress Farwell, president of the New Haven Urban Design League, only seven of the buildings are included on the city's Historic Resources Inventory, a listing of local properties of cultural and historical importance.
"Yale made it clear 20 years ago that they didn't want any of the buildings they own on the National Register [of Historic Places]," Farwell says. She is also concerned that destroying the current structures will alter the historical landscape of the area.
Robert A.M. Stern's plans for Yale University's two new residential colleges
Credit: Yale University
Yale's board of trustees approved the residential housing project in 2008 at a cost of $3.5 billion and has raised $2.7 billion so far. Robert A. M. Stern, dean of the university's school of architecture, was appointed to design the new residential colleges and unveiled the drawings in June.
Stern's triangle-shaped, Gothic-style complex will house about 800 undergraduate students and will raise undergraduate enrollment to 6,100. In a statement dated June 26, Yale says that officials were unable to include any of the buildings in the new design but did consider it.
"The design team did look carefully at the potential re-use of a number of buildings on the site, as preservation is a value for the university," the statement reads. "The desire to re-use, however, conflicted with the program size necessary for the success of the two new residential colleges." Yale also says that the option of relocating the buildings was too costly, but that it plans to try to salvage some historic items to be incorporated throughout the university.
Farwell says that she and a team met with Stern and suggested ways to incorporate some of the structures into the new design. "We absolutely do not believe that destruction of these buildings is the only alternative plan. There are always alternatives to catastrophic planning."
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Comments
Submitted by restorevt at: October 28, 2009
I guess it's reassuring the UVM isn't the only hypocritical institution when it comes to preservation planning! Why are people forever shortsighted ?
Submitted by Anonymous at: September 18, 2009
Finally, the campus will be more decentralized for the benefit of those studying the sciences. I wouldn't have to worry about getting mugged while walking to a nighttime review session or go without lunch because I don't have time to run from science hill down to a dining hall in the 10-15 minute passing time between class and lab
Submitted by Design New Haven at: August 26, 2009
More info here: http://downtownnewhaven.blogspot.com/2009/05/renderings-released-of-new-yale.html
Submitted by New Haven Resident at: August 21, 2009
The cost is not 3.5 Billion, that's the cost of the entire renovation of all 13 colleges. These will clock in around $600 Million, which is still astronomical for a DORM. Yale also believes that the cost of moving the houses on the site is too much, so rather than move them, they are going to knock them down.
Submitted by Corene at: August 20, 2009
Absolutely insane. How is it worth it to Yale to build such an expensive new structure for only another 800 students, who, if they wanted to go to Yale so badly, could find housing elsewhere? And $3.5 billion? With a 'B'?? Someone make sure I didn't miss a '0' but that's $4,375,000 per student. That's one really nice dorm room.
Submitted by Cheryl at: August 20, 2009
Pathetic! These buildings are important landmarks in the fabric of the American landscape and they deserve to be protected. Shouldn't Yale use better judgement in such matters.
Submitted by GeWaMa at: August 19, 2009
Shameful.
Submitted by Brian at: August 19, 2009
Well at least the blueprints look like a classical, decent, building style. I'm not too optimistic about saving those buildings. Tis a shame.