The Trumbull Street gate

Meanwhile, in far-off New Haven
    By Ben Smith

The postmodernists in Yale's Office of Facilities are at it again. They have aimed their deconstructionist devices (cranes and bulldozers) at quiet Trumbull Street, and, in the press release, they're calling for "substantial new signage...and, perhaps, a symbolic `gateway' to announce the arrival at Yale." Will this be a real gateway? A real symbol? Just a symbolic symbol? And does "signage" mean something more than "signs?" Well, as University Planner Pamela Delphenich clarifies, the project is currently "of a conceptual nature."

Behind the lit-crit language, the gist of the plans is clear: consultant Alexander Cooper has recommended that well-preserved Trumbull Street, halfway up Science Hill, become "the primary entrance to Yale." Some say that you can't blame Yale for doing a little PR. But this is the wrong kind of PR--this is sleight of hand, an attempt to hide a present-day city behind its 19th-century counterpart. Despite a flurry of engagements with local groups in recent years, Yale administrators and admissions officers still view present-day New Haven as a guilty secret, and that perspective has inspired bad symbolism and bad policy.

"Yale certainly has a deep interest in the future of that street," Cooper wrote earlier this year in a report to the Connecticut Historical Commission. But the plans for re-centering Yale on Trumbull Street are--beyond their literary pretensions--downright weird. These planners act a bit confused: one major goal is "to maintain the urbanistic character" of the area; this will be accomplished by tearing down a 19th-century masterpiece, the abandoned Maple Cottage at 85 Trumbull. Another landmark, the Kingsley-Blake House across the street, (now the home of the Ethics, Politics, and Economics department), will get off easy with "removal to a site off-campus." Once the one building is torn down and the other carted away (this I want to see), the two sites will become "landscaped parking lots" and, in the words of Assistant Vice President for New Haven Affairs Michael Morand, "signature buildings." Kind of like Maple Cottage and the Kingsley-Blake House.

Many New Haven locals are upset about these plans for a variety of reasons. Some preservationists, joined by Professor Vincent Scully, are particularly upset about the notion of demolishing Maple Cottage, a house designed in 1836 by one of the first truly American architects, Alexander Jackson Davis. Others see more sinister plans afoot: one suspicious resident who works on Chapel Street told me that he's worried the symbolic gateway will become a real gate. He also groused about Yale's driving directions to visitors, which steer drivers around downtown to the Trumbull Stree Exit 3 off Interstate 91, and which may have the effect of visitors' seeing "no black faces."

Yale administrators deny these accusations. Associate Vice President for Facilities Kemel Dawkins told me that Trumbull Street, with its proximity to Interstate 91 and the admissions office, has been a gateway for years, and that planners are just playing catch-up. (This is where "signage" comes in.) Morand points to Yale's recent commitments to the city: in the real downtown, the University has invested $12.5 million for the Ninth Square development.

There are really two infuriating things about the gateway on Trumbull Street. First, it flatly misleads visitors and prospective students. No one comes here for the quiet streets and grassy lawns--many people come here because they aren't interested in that kind of school. In fact, the Hillhouse-Trumbull area really doesn't play much of a role in the experience of most undergraduates; on weekends, Hillhouse is pretty much deserted but for a few sick drunks on their way to DUH.

Second, the Trumbull Street plans endanger Yale's attempt to shed its bad reputation in New Haven. The last few years have seen real progress, from Shaw's Supermarket to redevelopment plans for Chapel Street. The focus on the antique Hillhouse sector and talk of "gateways" work against this movement, suggesting the University is embarrassed of its city. In a relationship as sensitive as that between Yale and New Haven, symbolism is important too.

In fact, in trying to make Trumbull and Hillhouse the center of the University, Yale will resurrect a 19th-century past that never existed in the first place. Hillhouse was lined with private mansions, and the old University, like the new one, had its center well this side of Grove Street.

Steering visitors into that fantasy city may mislead some and give the others the impression that the University has something to hide. The planned changes will do little for Yale's reputation in New Haven or outside it.

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