Print Size: 24" x 36" (Frame Size: 24" x 36") New Haven, CT Date: 1757
Blueprint of Connecticut Hall, Yale University, Elevations
Modeled after Massachusetts Hall (1720), the oldest surviving building at Harvard, Georgian style Connecticut Hall is the oldest building on the campus of Yale University, and one of the oldest buildings in Connecticut. It is the only remaining component of “Old Brick Row,” a cluster of eight imposing structures conceived by John Trumbull as the influential first planned college campus in the country.
Connecticut Hall was built in 1748-57 with monies raised by state lottery for a “a new college house built with brick of 105 feet in length, 40 feet in breadth and 3 stories high.” With dormer windows, fine sandstone window and door caps, projecting belt courses to mark each story, and a watertable of specially molded brick, the hall was recognized as “the best building in the colony.” It was restored in 1797 and enlarged with a fourth story. Housed on each floor were 32 parlors, 96 in all, each with two attached sleeping rooms and ample closets. The building’s broad fire flues and excellent ventilation were said to account for “the superior clearness of head” of its residents. Perhaps, as Connecticut Hall’s long roster of residents included at various times Eli Whitney, Noah Webster, and campus hero Nathan Hale, among many others.
Faced with demolition in the early twentieth century, Connecticut Hall was saved and restored by concerned alumni. The dormitory, which today houses meeting rooms and offices, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.
