Allan Appel Photo
Hill and curator Saunders with “Untitled, from Cathedral,” by artist John Keefer in back
Gloria Hill has a new ceiling fan, upgraded and efficient appliances, and windows that preserve history while they save energy. She also has a new art gallery in her building as well.
Or one in the making.
Monday afternoon Hill attended the grand re-opening of her home, West Village Apartments on Howe near Chapel. She lives in the now 127-unit complex of affordable apartments for formerly homeless and low-income people that shares a noble pile of bricks with the YMCA, which runs youth and social programs in support of the residents.
The owner and coordinator of the $17.5 million rehab is The Community Builders. Company officials, tenants, and a cadre of local preservation-minded artists gathered Monday afternoon to celebrate the the completion of a three-year historical rehab of the 1924 building.
To mark the occasion with an unusual filip, the YMCA gave the thumbs-up for Bill Saunders to grace the community room of the building with the work of local artists and collectors whose values celebrate New Haven history and promote adaptive reuses such as the West Village Apartment renovations.
Saunders, who strives to bring art to “regular people,” had developed a relationship with Amy D’zurka. She runs the youth and support programs for the complex’s tenants, like Hill, who has been living there for three years and is an artist as well.
The Three Amigo preservationist/artists — Randall, Saunders, and Greenberg.
When he saw the spacious, lobby and the community room luxuriously paneled with wood from floor to ceiling, the formal fireplace, and three big Palladian windows, Saunders said, “This is the most perfect art gallery I’ve even seen.”
He invited artists Paul Duda, John Keefer, Chris Randall, and collector of New Haven-iana extraordinaire Rob Greenberg to make an exhibition in the space
The result, niftily titled “Howe and Y,” will be on display in the community room at 52 Howe St. through Dec. 20.
Greenberg with a facade piece from the Coliseum.
Greenberg is showing “Rest in Pieces,” his mobile artifact exhibit with bricks, facades, and other stone vestiges of buildings loved and gone in town.
Chris Randall is showing digital prints of the Winchester Firearms Factory and other locations. New Haven image collector Joe Taylor provided Saunders with archival photos of buildings long gone on Howe Street, as well as century-old streetscapes.
Saunders said he aimed through the show to raise awareness of the value of adaptive reuse and to give a thumbs-up to developers such as The Community Builders who practice it.
A resident since 1997, Gore works part time for a shelter and would be need of one himself were it not for West Village Apt., he said.
Longtime tenant Jones Gore (pictured) praised the renovation. He said it has given him more safety, “space age” appliances, and ceiling fans.
The actual construction, all within the building, took only eight months. The whole process, including planning, took three years, culminating in Monday’s celebration, said Rachana Crowley, who organized the project for The Community Builders.
That’s because when it was time for Gore’s apartment to be upgraded, he moved into one that had just been finished. The two-and-a-half-month rotation for each apartment rehab was done to minimize disruption for residents. Now 29 former studios or efficiencies have become one-bedroom apartments, including Gore’s.
Crowley said new exterior windows will reduce energy loss and preserve history. The building’s flat roof was replaced with a a new one, and painted white to deflect heat. A co-generator provides electricity for the apartments while Y uses its given-off-heat to warm the pool.
Saunders purchased this archival photo of the stately Victorian at 38 Howe, burned down in 1937. Then he gave it to what he hopes will be West Village Apt.’s gallery’s own historical collection.
“We’re extending the life of the place,” said The Community Builders President and CEO Bart Mitchell.
All of which pleased Bill Saunders, who introduced himself to officials and especially to the tenants. “We’re slowly developing the relationship with this place, ” he said.
When Saunders looked up at the compound moldings, from which the art hangs, he pronounced the room perfect for a gallery that just well might be ongoing.
Next up to be organized: an art show of the tenants’ works.
“This inspires me a lot,” Hill said. “I can’t wait till you see my art.”