Connecticut Hall (formerly South Middle College) is a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

building on the

Old Campus The Old Campus is the oldest area of the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the principal residence of Yale College freshmen and also contains offices for the academic departments of Classics, English, History, Comparative Li ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Completed in 1752, it was originally a student dormitory, a function it retained for 200 years. Part of the first floor became home to the Yale College Dean's Office after 1905, and the full building was converted to departmental offices in the mid-twentieth century. It is currently used by the Department of Philosophy, and its third story contains a room for meetings of the Yale Faculty of Arts & Sciences, the academic faculty of Yale College and the

Graduate School Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

. Connecticut Hall is the third-oldest of only seven surviving American colonial-era college buildings, and the second-oldest structure built for

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in New Haven. It was built, in part, by enslaved laborers. The first building in a campus plan known as Old Brick Row that stood from 1750 to 1870, it is the only survivor of a demolition campaign that created the modern Old Campus quadrangle. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1965.

History

When Yale College moved to New Haven in 1718, the town had constructed a wooden building known as the College House for its occupancy at the corner of College and Chapel Streets. By 1747, the College House held less than half of the college's enrolled students, and

college president A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...

Thomas Clap Thomas Clap or Thomas Clapp (June 26, 1703 – January 7, 1767) was an American academic and educator, a Congregational minister, and college administrator. He was both the fifth rector and the earliest official to be called "president" of Yale Co ...

announced that funds would be raised from the

Colony of Connecticut The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...

for a "new College House" of three stories. The money used to fund the project came from the sale of a French ship captured by a

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

, a lottery, and a grant from the

Connecticut Assembly The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. Ther ...

. Construction, completed by 1752, was headed by Francis Letort and Thomas Bills, who also designed the college's next building, the First Chapel. Among the construction workers were at least five enslaved Africans, one of whom was owned by Yale president Thomas Clap, who were recorded as having worked for 436.5 days. The new dormitory was built long, wide, three stories tall. Because President Clap instructed the builders to follow plans he received from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, it was nearly a duplicate of Harvard's

Massachusetts Hall Massachusetts Hall may refer to: * Massachusetts Hall (Harvard University) Massachusetts Hall is the oldest surviving building at Harvard College, the first institution of higher learning in the British colonies in America, and second oldest acad ...

, completed in 1720. In its original incarnation, just under one hundred rooms were fit under its

gambrel roof A gambrel or gambrel roof is a usually symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. (The usual architectural term in eighteenth-century England and North America was "Dutch roof".) The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, w ...

Connecticut Hall became the anchor and template for Old Brick Row's building pattern, and became known as South Middle College as buildings were added to its north and south. By 1824, Old Brick Row had four "colleges" resembling Connecticut Hall: Union Hall (South College), Connecticut Hall (South Middle College), Berkeley Hall (North Middle College), and North College. When Old Brick Row was slated for demolition in the early 20th century, Connecticut Hall was saved by a group of alumni led by Professor Henry W. Farnam. In 1925, Yale broke ground on McClellan Hall, a student dormitory that mimicked the appearance of Connecticut Hall. At the time, many students and faculty felt Connecticut Hall was an obsolete structure that marred the campus' beauty. They objected to the administration's sudden plans to erect a facsimile building to balance its presence on the Old Campus. They dubbed McClellan "Hush Hall" and staged a "Pageant of Symmetry" to oppose its construction. The building has been renovated several times and appears substantially different from its early appearance and function. A 1797 addition swapped the gambrel roof for a fourth story and a pitched roof. In 1905, a restoration led by

Grosvenor Atterbury Grosvenor Atterbury (July 7, 1869 in Detroit, MI – October 18, 1956 in Southampton, NY) was an American architect, urban planner and writer. He studied at Yale University, where he was an editor of campus humor magazine ''The Yale Record'' After ...

rebuilt the gambrel roof, bringing the building closer to its original form. From 1952 to 1954, the structure was reconstructed in which the building interior was gutted the structure and rebuilt for reading, seminar and faculty rooms.

Uses

Connecticut Hall remained a student dormitory for nearly 200 years, but has always been joined by other uses. Lacking sufficient space, Thomas Clap and other faculty would hold class sessions in the entryways. Before purpose-built structures could be constructed, a physics laboratory, art gallery, and natural history collection were housed in various parts of the building. Beginning in mid-eighteenth century, a buttery occupied the southeast corner of the first floor, furnishing students with beer, alcoholic cider, and seasonal fruits. One Yale historian wrote of it: The buttery closed in 1817, and Yale President

Theodore Dwight Woolsey Theodore Dwight Woolsey (31 October 1801 – 1 July 1889) was an American academic, author and President of Yale College from 1846 through 1871. Biography Theodore Dwight Woolsey was born 31 October 1801 in New York City. His mother was Elizabe ...

noted that "nothing became it like the leaving of it." As a residence, South Middle gained a reputation as cramped, damp, and cold, and was considered undesirable housing by most of its occupants. Shortly after the Atterbury restoration in 1905, Yale College Dean Frederick S. Jones announced he would move his offices there to "get to the center of the college." There they remained until World War II, when they were moved to Sterling-Sheffield-Strathcona Hall on Prospect Street and the Orr renovation fully converted the building to departmental offices and faculty meeting space. Today, the building contains the offices of Yale's Department of Philosophy. The Faculty Room, where the Faculty of Arts and Sciences holds its meetings, is located on the second floor. There is also a

computer cluster A computer cluster is a set of computers that work together so that they can be viewed as a single system. Unlike grid computers, computer clusters have each node set to perform the same task, controlled and scheduled by software. The comp ...

in the basement.

Architectural significance

Connecticut Hall is one of the oldest buildings in Connecticut and the only remaining example of colonial-era architecture built at Yale. It was declared a

in 1965. and The first two residence halls at

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

in Oxford, Ohio, originally dubbed "Yale of the Early West", are modeled after Connecticut Hall.

Notable residents

Horace Bushnell Horace Bushnell (April 14, 1802February 17, 1876) was an American Congregational minister and theologian. Life Bushnell was born in the village of Bantam, township of Litchfield, Connecticut. He attended Yale College where he roomed with fu ...

, theologian and Congregationalist minister *

Nathan Hale Nathan Hale (June 6, 1755 – September 22, 1776) was an American Patriot, soldier and spy for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured b ...

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

spy *

James Hillhouse James Hillhouse (October 20, 1754 – December 29, 1832) was an American lawyer, real estate developer, and politician from New Haven, Connecticut. He represented the state in both chambers of the US Congress. From February to March 1801, Hill ...

, early New Haven benefactor *

David Humphries David John Humphries (6 August 1953 – 15 July 2020) was an English cricketer. He was born in Alveley, Shropshire, and educated at Bridgnorth Olbury Wells School and Wulfrun College, Wolverhampton.Published under Association of Cricket Stati ...

, aide-de-camp to George Washington, ambassador and author *

James Kent James Kent may refer to: *James Kent (jurist) (1763–1847), American jurist and legal scholar * James Kent (composer) (1700–1776), English composer *James Kent, better known as Perturbator, French electronic/synthwave musician *James Tyler Kent ...

, American jurist and legal scholar *

Jeremiah Mason Jeremiah Mason (April 27, 1768 – October 14, 1848) was a United States senator from New Hampshire. Early life Mason was born in Lebanon, Connecticut on April 27, 1768. He was a son of Jeremiah Mason (1729/30–1813) and the former Elizabet ...

, United States Senator *

Noah Porter Noah Thomas Porter III (December 14, 1811 – March 4, 1892)''Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University'', Yale University, 1891-2, New Haven, pp. 82-83. was an American Congregational minister, academic, philosopher, author, lexicographer a ...

, president of Yale College *

John William Sterling John William Sterling (May 12, 1844 – July 5, 1918) was a founding partner of Shearman & Sterling LLP and major benefactor to Yale University. Early life and career John William Sterling was born in Stratford, Connecticut, the son of Ca ...

, lawyer and Yale benefactor *

Noah Webster Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

, author of the first American dictionary * Theodore Woolsey, president of Yale College *

Eli Whitney Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney hi ...

, inventor of

interchangeable parts Interchangeable parts are parts ( components) that are identical for practical purposes. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they will fit into any assembly of the same type. One such part can freely r ...

and the

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

References

External links