Media

Annual Meeting 2024 – Long Wharf Pier: William Lanson’s 1810 Expansion and What It Meant to New Haven | May 22, 2024
New Haven Preservation Trust board member Susan Godshall discusses Long Wharf Pier (recently nominated to the National Register of Historic Places) and the remarkable achievements of self-taught engineer William Lanson. Presented as part of the 2024 annual meeting.

Annual Meeting 2024 – Lessons from a Cesspit: Uncovering the Past to Plan for the Future | May 22, 2024
New Haven Preservation Trust board member Oliver Gaffney leads viewers through a case for the preservation of the “profane” elements of history and architecture, and his amateur archaeology work on his own house to connect artifacts to the authentic lives of former occupants. Presented as part of the 2024 annual meeting.

Annual Meeting 2024 – Modernism and Beyond | May 22, 2024
New Haven Preservation Trust board member and past president Rona Johnston shares her thoughts on Modernism, and discusses how the Trust supports Modernism in New Haven in various ways. Presented as part of the 2024 annual meeting.

Historic Homes Rehabilitation Tax Credit Boot Camp | April 18, 2024
The New Haven Preservation Trust and the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) present a crash course on the Historic Homes Rehabilitation Tax Credit (HHRTC) program. Led by architectural preservationist Erin Fink, the workshop covers all four parts of the HHRTC program including the initial project submissions and the post-rehabilitation documentation of completed work.

What Style Is My House? A Guide to New Haven Domestic Architecture | July 17, 2023
Architectural historian Michael Waters shares examples of Colonial, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Arts & Crafts, Colonial Revival, and Midcentury Modern homes from across the city — and discusses how to identify the key architectural features of each style.

The Builder Book: Carpenters, Masons and Contractors in Historic New Haven | January 26, 2023
Susan Godshall and Jack Tripp present their book published by the New Haven Preservation Trust. This unique take on New Haven focuses on the often unknown men — and one woman — who built houses, commercial and academic buildings, monuments and other historic structures.

Nine Squares in a “Wilderness”: The Mysteries of Early New Haven | November 10, 2022
Mark Peterson, Edmund S. Morgan Professor of History at Yale, presents a talk on the nine squares of New Haven. If the English Puritans who colonized New England in the 1630s had an enemy they could all agree on, it was Spain and Spain’s enormous New World empire. Yet the town that some of these Puritans founded near the place where the Quinnipiac River meets Long Island Sound looked nothing like the other English towns of New England. It looked like Spanish towns in the New World. This talk explores this and other mysteries about New Haven’s founding, including the question of where its English name came from, and why its colonists imagined they were entering a “wilderness.”

2022 NHPT Preservation Awards | June 30, 2022
Multiple generations from diverse origins have been drawn to the scenic setting of Fair Haven with successive chapters of building, renewal and rediscovery. New Haven Preservation Trust celebrates this past by honoring three representative examples of preservation projects: a 19th century shipbuilder’s house on Perkins Street, two houses reinvented and joined as classroom space for the Cold Spring School, and a gateway to Fair Haven, the Grand Avenue Bridge.

Visions and Vistas: Olmsted and the Landscaping of New Haven County | June 5, 2022
In the spirit of Olmsted 200, Jenny Scofield, National Register Coordinator at the State Historic Preservation Office, and Christopher Wigren, Deputy Director of Preservation Connecticut, talk about the importance of recognizing historic landscapes, Olmsted firm design philosophies, and the results of the survey in New Haven County—including parks and city plans, university campuses and grounds of public buildings, great estates, and residential subdivisions. New Haven Preservation Trust and the James Blackstone Memorial Library join to celebrate Connecticut’s landscape heritage.

Annual Meeting 2022 – Personal Reflection: Preservation and Meaning of Place | May 26, 2022
In an illustrated talk, Board President Rona Johnston discusses the New Haven Preservation Trust’s new strategic plan and future directions for preservation in New Haven. In a personal reflection she asks herself what kind of organization the Trust is and what kind of organization the Trust wants to be. That question got her thinking and she shares some of those thoughts in this presentation.

New Haven, a Great Manufacturing City | January 23, 2022
Bruce Clouette, who has been researching and writing about Connecticut history and historic sites since 1975, leads this presentation exploring the origins of manufacturing in New Haven and the evolution of the city’s numerous manufacturers, large and small, successful and short-lived, those that have disappeared from view, and those that have left impressive physical remains. Behind it all we ponder the question of what relevance (if any) industrial history has for people living in the Information Age.

Celebration of Preservation 2021 – “One Emergency After Another”: Reflections on the Early Decades | September 29, 2021
To mark the Trust’s Sixtieth Anniversary, we asked five Trust supporters to reflect on preservation in New Haven over the last six decades. Marianne Mazan, Advisor to the Trust and Recipient (along with her husband, Richard) of the Trust’s Margaret Flint Award in 1991, discusses what drove the Trust’s first decades.

Celebration of Preservation 2021 – Park Your Preconceptions: Urban Renewal that Works | September 29, 2021
To mark the Trust’s Sixtieth Anniversary, we asked five Trust supporters to reflect on preservation in New Haven over the last six decades. Susan Godshall, Assistant Treasurer and Board Member, discusses why preservation can embrace urban renewal.

Celebration of Preservation 2021 – Carriages and Clocks Revisited | September 29, 2021
To mark the Trust’s Sixtieth Anniversary, we asked five Trust supporters to reflect on preservation in New Haven over the last six decades. Preston Maynard, Advisor and former Executive Director of the Trust, discusses when the city’s industrial heritage appeared in print.

Celebration of Preservation 2021 – The Modernism Project | September 29, 2021
To mark the Trust’s Sixtieth Anniversary, we asked five Trust supporters to reflect on preservation in New Haven over the last six decades. In this video, Christopher Wigren, Advisor to the Trust and Deputy Director of Preservation Connecticut, discusses how New Haven Preservation Trust came to champion Modernism.

Celebration of Preservation 2021 – Partners in Preservation: NHPT, SHPO and the Recognition of New Haven’s Historic Places | September 29, 2021
To mark the Trust’s Sixtieth Anniversary, we asked five Trust supporters to reflect on preservation in New Haven over the last six decades. In this video, Jenny Scofield, AICP, National Register and Architectural Survey Coordinator in Connecticut’s State Historic Preservation Office, discusses what inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places can mean in New Haven.

2021 NHPT Preservation Awards and Annual Meeting | June 17, 2021
Marking the Sixtieth Anniversary of the New Haven Preservation Trust, 1961–2021, the evening celebrates three quintessential New Haven buildings from 1961, honors a visionary founder of the New Haven Preservation Trust, and applauds a New Haven organization whose mission lifts up diversity. Current preservation activities are discussed at the Trust’s Annual Meeting.

Saving America’s Cities: Ed Logue, New Haven and Beyond | May 12, 2021
Lizabeth Cohen, the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies at Harvard University and author of the award-winning “Saving America’s Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age,” analyzes the urban renewal of New Haven during the 1950s and 1960s. Cohen explains that while in hindsight we now understand that the urban renewal of the 1950s to 1970s was deeply flawed, the ideals and aspirations by New Haven leaders of the era need to be understood in the context of their times. Cosponsored with the New Haven Museum.

The Goffe Street Armory – Putting History in Historic Preservation | February 21, 2021
Leah S. Glaser, Professor of American History and the American West at Central Connecticut State University, explains that preservation practice has often focused almost exclusively on architecture. As a result, we risk losing important and diverse histories associated with places not deemed architecturally significant. We need to include robust historical context when documenting historic places, valuing historical significance as much as we have valued architectural significance in what and why we save.

Cass Gilbert and “The Plan for New Haven” | November 15, 2020
Thomas Fisher gives an illustrated talk that explores Cass Gilbert's Plan for New Haven (1910) and how it related to his other urban design projects. Amongst the many public buildings designed by pioneer architect Cass Gilbert are New Haven’s Union Station and New Haven Free Public Library. But Gilbert was also an urban designer, evident in his plans for New Haven as well as for Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The talk considers the opportunities New Haven now has to realize some of what Gilbert proposed.

The Changing Face of Preservation | October 29, 2020
Elizabeth Holt, NHPT Director of Preservation Services, reflects on what it means to seek to preserve a city’s built heritage from the midst of contemporary concerns. This talk was originally given at the Trust's virtual Annual Meeting and Celebration of Preservation. Environmental responsibility and social justice are amongst the themes addressed.

New Haven Stations, Past and Present | October 4, 2020
Bruce Clouette gives a presentation that looks back at the several railroad stations that have served New Haven, including Henry Austin’s Picturesque-Exotic 1849 Chapel Street Station and Cass Gilbert’s Renaissance Revival 1918 Union Station. Many factors went into the design of these stations: public convenience, the needs of the railroad, civic pride. Yet no station was a complete success, at least not for very long.

Architect Edward E. Cherry, FAIA | A Conversation, March 12, 2020
Edward E. Cherry played a major role in the post-war architecture of New Haven. His Modernist structures were key in the development of the Dixwell neighborhood in particular. In this interview he recounts his remarkable career. He reminisces about his firm and his involvement with the Redevelopment Agency and urban renewal. And he explores the design of several of his most significant buildings.

We Built This City to Walk and Stroll | September 17, 2019
John Massengale, AIA, is an international thought leader on the connections between urban design, architecture, placemaking, and walkability. An architect and urban designer, John Massengale is the co-author of New York 1900, Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism 1890–1915 and Street Design, The Secret to Great Cities and Towns. From cities and streets to buildings and rooms, he emphasizes making places where people want to be.

Mid-Century Modernism: The Harvard Five | February 20, 2019
William Earls, AIA, shares the highlights, controversies, and lasting impact of the five architects—Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johansen, Philip Johnson, and Eliot Noyes—whose designs, ideas, philosophies, and interactions profoundly influenced residential housing for generations.

Lost New Haven: Traveling Through Time | November 14, 2018
Duo Dickinson, FAIA, focuses his talk on the architecture that has been lost by the unthinking energy of social change that propels America and New Haven forward. The particular lessons of each building can reveal what we have been, where we are, and, perhaps, where we are going.

My 20-Year Life with the Boathouse | May 30, 2018
Rick Wies, designer of the new boathouse facility, shares a saga of tension, collaboration, defeat, and eventual success leading to the June 2018 opening of the new Canal Dock Boathouse.

Preserving & Celebrating African American Historic Places | November 8, 2017
Brent Leggs, Senior Field Officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Maryland, Harvard Loeb Fellow, and the author of Preserving African American Historic Places, lectures in the distinctive Modernist building of the Dixwell Avenue United Church of Christ (the oldest African American UCC church in the world). He explores an innovative — and successful — approach to maintaining African American landmarks.

2017 NHPT Preservation Awards | May 16, 2017
New Haven Preservation Trust’s 2017 award presentation ceremony recognizing exemplary acts of leadership in historic preservation and celebrating the determination of those who preserve New Haven’s architecture and neighborhoods.

2015 NHPT Preservation Awards | May 26, 2015
New Haven Preservation Trust’s 2015 award presentation ceremony at New Haven’s City Hall, in celebration of National Historic Preservation Month.

Architect Cesar Pelli, FAIA, RIBA, JIA | A Conversation, February 11, 2015
Cesar Pelli was a long-time presence in New Haven — working here with the Saarinen office (1961), as dean of the Yale School of Architecture (1977–1984), and establishing his practice in the city (1977). In this interview he recounts moments from his remarkable career and discusses Modernism in New Haven.

Kevin Roche: Early Career | A Conversation, 2014
Modernist architect Kevin Roche explains how he began his career, his early years in America, and his relationship with Eero Saarinen.

Kevin Roche: The David S. Ingalls Hockey Rink (1957-1958) | A Conversation, 2014
Renowned architect Kevin Roche discusses his work on Yale's David S. Ingalls Hockey Rink (aka: the Yale Whale).

Kevin Roche: Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges (1960-1962) | A Conversation, 2014
Kevin Roche describes the main influences for the design of Yale's Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges, as well as the techniques used in its construction.

Kevin Roche: The Knights of Columbus Headquarters Building (1967) | A Conversation, 2014
Kevin Roche explains the concept and construction of the Knights of Columbus headquarters, a key feature of the New Haven skyline.

The Life and Death and Life of a Great American Building | October 1, 2014
Robert A.M. Stern, Architect and Dean of the Yale School of Architecture presents a talk about the Yale Art and Architecture building designed by modernist, Paul Rudolph, at the 53rd annual meeting of New Haven Preservation Trust.

The Building of English Shelter at East Rock Park (1953) | Archival Film, 1953
English Shelter, located in New Haven's East Rock Park, was designed by Robert and Jean Coolidge. This film shows the remarkable process of building the structure. (Video provided courtesy of Robert T. Coolidge.)

Walking on Water
Daily Nutmeg | September 15, 2021

The 2021 New Haven Preservation Trust Awards
Architype | July/August 2021

Newhall Gardens Wins Top Preservation Award
New Haven Independent | July 2, 2021

Grand Central
Daily Nutmeg | June 15, 2021

New Haven Preservation Trust Holds Presentation on the Goffe Street Armory
Yale Daily News | February 24, 2021

Opinion: Can We Prevent the Loss of History in New Haven?
New Haven Register | September 4, 2020

Duncan (Er, “Graduate”), Frews Win Preservation Award
New Haven Independent | October 30, 2020

Preservation Trust Takes It to the Streets
New Haven Independent | October 15, 2020

Virtual New Haven Tour Showcases Modernist Buildings
Yale Daily News | October 14, 2020

Divinity School Honored for 20-year Effort to Restore Sterling Quadrangle
Yale Daily News | June 12, 2019

New Haven Preservation Trust Awards
Architype | June 2019

New Haven Preservation Trust Hails “Good Works”
New Haven Independent | May 23, 2019

Randall Beach: Much Has Been Saved, Not Lost, in New Haven
New Haven Register | November 17, 2018

Preservation Trust Awards Hail Jewels & Heroes
New Haven Independent | May 16, 2018

New Haven Preservation Trust Honors Gilvarg, Others
New Haven Register | May 15, 2018

New Haven Preservation Trust Awards Laud Protection of Structures and History
New Haven Register | May 17, 2017

Heritage Plaque a ‘Mark of Pride’ for New Haven Homeowners
New Haven Register | March 7, 2015

To Preserve and Protect
Daily Nutmeg | September 12, 2013

New Haven Preservation Trust Celebrates 50 Years of Saving All It Can
New Haven Register | February 16, 2011

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