The New Haven Armory (also known as the Goffe Street Armory) is a historic building at 270–290 Goffe Street in the Dixwell neighborhood of

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, United States. Developed between 1928 and 1930, the armory served the

Connecticut National Guard The Connecticut Military Department is a state agency of the government of Connecticut. Its primary components are the Connecticut Army National Guard, the Connecticut Air National Guard, and four companies of the state militia. The Military Dep ...

and the Second Company Governor's Foot Guard. It has also served as a venue for concerts, events and other civic functions in the community.

Description and history

The building was designed by Payne and Keefe. It is a fortress-like structure with a red brick exterior in a

Romanesque revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

style. The building consists of three main parts: a vast vaulted drill hall, a surrounding U-shaped head house, and an extending wing on the west. The four-story entry tower of the headhouse dominates the facade, with "state armory" engraved near the top. The building features basket-weave brickwork, arches,

corbelling In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the st ...

, and a molded cornice. The enormous interior space has meeting rooms, offices, lounges and a lobby area. The drill hall is of unobstructed space and features a web of steel trusses spanning the ceiling. The building has served as a venue for dog, antique and boat shows, as well as exhibitions and concerts, with artists including Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey Band. A home show held at the armory in the 1940s included a full-sized Cape Cod house. It played a role during the

New Haven Black Panther trials In 1969-1971 there was a series of criminal prosecutions in New Haven, Connecticut, against various members and associates of the Black Panther Party. The charges ranged from criminal conspiracy to first-degree murder. All charges stemmed from t ...

in 1970 as the staging ground for the National Guard response to protests. Annual "Black Expos" were held at the armory in the 1970s to promote and discuss economic, political, and social concerns important to the African-American community. Ownership was transferred to the City of New Haven in 2009 when both guard units moved to other facilities and the armory was deemed surplus. Efforts to secure funds so that the building can be renovated to serve the community are ongoing. The property was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2021.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in New Haven, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in New Haven, Connecticut Armories on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Romanesque Revival architecture in Connecticut Buildings and structures completed in 1930

Description and history

See also

References