New Haven Industrial Heritage Trails

Like most cities in America, New Haven is punctured with parking garages, a result of the  recklessness of Urban Renewal which started in the mid-century. The goal of Urban Renewal  was to address urban decay and restore economic viability however, it destroyed many cities  and left us with huge artifacts, such as parking garages. Today, most people don’t even notice  these megastructures that are scattered throughout the city. If they do take notice they most  likely are alienated by the austere and brutal streetscape these structures create.

However, I would argue that New Haven is home to a handful of architecturally and historically  significant parking garages. Specifically these three structures, Temple Street Garage by  Rudolph (1961), Air Rights parking garage by Orr, deCossy, Winder, & assoc (1980). and the  Crown Street Garage by Granbery Cash & Associates (1970). They take up a major presence in  the urban fabric of the city and have a huge hand in the character of the city.

Beyond these structures being appreciated by the community, I think people should be aware  of changes in our living patterns that within a few decades could fully change the demands of  our cities and parking garages.

As we can see with the effects of COVID these places can become obsolete in the near future.

How we will move forward with these buildings is completely dependent on their value in the  community. One way to build some community value is to develop the narrative of these places.

In order to build these massive structures, clearing of entire neighborhoods happened. This was  the model of Urban Renewal, which was rampant in New Haven. The ferocity of Urban renewal  that ate up New Haven was because of Mayor Dick Lee, he wanted to modernize the city and  make the city stand out. At this time cities across America were dying, middle-class white  people were moving out into the suburbs at increasingly high rates leaving minorities in the city  in further deteriorating conditions. These neighborhoods were systemically devalued through  policy and were eventually labeled blighted areas. In order to regain value, the city sought to  combine many parcels pushing people out and created superblocks in which towers for living  and working were built which resulted in the combined urban fabric we have today. Of course,  the modern city did not care about pedestrians or mass public transit anymore so parking  garages needed to be built.   The first of these structures is of course by Paul Rudolph, who wanted to make a monumental  structure similar to that of a Roman aqueduct. The original proposal was three times the length  of what was constructed and was supposed to traverse the Oak Street Connector making a  grand entrance into the city. The garage was attached directly to a new shopping mall because  at the time New Haven was attempting to attract the suburbanites back into the city. In a way,  these structures became the new train station, the space that people would first encounter  when they arrived in the city. Of course, the car creates the need for a change in scale, which  you can see here. Although we generally value train stations and consider them to be grand  spaces, we rarely consider parking structures which are oftentimes even grander in their scale. 

These huge constructions change the fabric of the city completely as you can see with the  overlay of the 1911 Sanborn map. In the bottom right you can see the outline of Another  megastructure project, the New Haven Colosseum, designed by Kevin Roche, which was an  entertainment venue with an elevated parking garage. This building, unfortunately, fell into  disrepair and the city eventually felt it was best to demolish it, rather than deal with the upkeep.  Because there was no feasible plan of what would happen here, and the scar of this structure  still exists in New Haven. This is the cautionary tale that I want to expose so that we do not  repeat this pattern.  

The city just received funding for the parking garages to make repairs, I think it’s important to  understand why this continued investment is important. In order to not repeat this history of  demolition without a plan or study, we need to identify the aspects of our current urban  conditions. As we approach a new paradigm shift, I think it’s important to study these parking  garages and the immense amount of energy and resources it took to create them. I am  proposing a three-phased approach to understanding and reassessing these structures.

The first phase is a historical documentation and trail system. This phase establishes the narrative of these buildings and begins to gain community  value and understanding of these structures. This is about expanding upon the narrative I have  been setting out and connecting it to the history of these parking structures. Also creating  awareness of these places as Icons for the city.

Three trails, pamphlets, plaques, app, website.

The second phase is a creative and artistic intervention. This phase reimagines what these spaces could be used for as we reconcile the changes  in our living patterns and help us see a future for these buildings beyond holding cars.

Large scale painting, installations, events.

The third phase is preservation and reuse. This phase would depend on the community value, historical narrative, and the success  or failures of the artist interventions. Depending on the garage different measures would need  to be taken. For example, preserving the Temple Street Garage for architectural qualities and  historical significance as the first major parking garage in New Haven. Or turning the roof of  Air-rights garage into a greenspace. This would take all of the input from the previous steps to  really get an understanding of the capacity of these spaces. 

Permanent changes, greening.

This phased process would help bring one of New Haven's major urban aspects into the  community’s mind and recognize the potential of these public spaces which have generally  been ignored.   Parking structures demand is going to change and most likely decrease or completely disappear within the next few decades and we change our patterns of living. The current crisis has shown that many people can work from home and as we continue to change our habits to decrease our harm to the environment we will see fewer cars. The parking structures also recently received money for their upkeep as long as the city keeps them in their possession. I would argue that the parking structures are actually a public space now. The parking garages have a complex and rich history that connects to urban renewal and changes in the way we live in cities, and more problematic narratives like white flight or blight. There is also a great case study of the Coliseum, which shows what happens when we let megastructures fall into disrepair and how it stands vacant. If we do not want history to repeat itself with these cycles of building, leveling, and clearing, followed by devaluation.

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/realestate/commercial/a-plan-in-new-haven-to-right-a-highways-wrong.html

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Sadly-parking-garages-are-a-New-Haven-necessity-11603652.php

http://www.duodickinson.com/Images/NH_Reg_021410_City_s_Parking_Garages_Sprout_Like_Weeds.pdf

http://hiddenarchitecture.net/temple-street-parking-garage/

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/New-Haven-Coliseum-architect-left-town-the-day-it-13142340.php

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/101_college/

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/crown_garage_commercial/

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/music_hall_deal_falls_through/

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/not_for_sale/

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/brighter_nights_loom_for_downtown_garages/

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/accidental_art_comes_to_parking_garages/

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/crown_street_gets_a_new_juice_bar/

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/new_exhibit_rehabilitates_paul_rudolph/

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/1970s_photos/