George Ranalli Architect GRA

Project : Yale University Commercial Building

Location : New Haven, Connecticut

Firm : George Ranalli Architect

Associates: Silman Engineers

In 1999, Yale University commissioned George Ranalli Architect to design a 3,500-square-foot commercial building on Broadway in the town of New Haven, Connecticut; part of an initiative to strengthen the fabric of downtown New Haven. The site for the new building occupied a parcel on the street also home to Sterling Memorial Library, circa 1920, by James Gamble Rodgers. The stone library complex is a grand presence, although its interior differentiates into a less formal presentation at Broadway and York Streets. The commercial program for the new building included commercial offices above ground floor retail.

The challenge was finding architectural expression for the stated program attuned to the Sterling Memorial Library complex. The solution was 42-ft. by 42-ft. masonry structure resonant with the heft of the library buildings and the architectural texture of the vicinity.   A facade composed of limestone, copper, and mahogany-framed windows proved to be a good fit.