Another Bigelow Factory Building Demolished

A long-derelict, publicly-owned former factory building on River Street fell brick by brick to the ground Tuesday, as a demolition crew tore apart a boarded-up three-story building that was one of the last standing remnants of the Bigelow Boiler industrial complex. 

A handful of hard-hatted demolition workers were busy at that job Tuesday morning scooping up the scattered bricks in front of 198 River St. 

That’s the site of one of the last standing — for now — Bigelow Boiler factory buildings on the southern side of the street just east of James.

The Bigelow Company used to be a national leader in the manufacture of steam boilers, according to the New Haven Preservation Trust. Many of the River Street buildings were constructed in the 1870s and 1880s, and the factory complex employed hundreds of people well into the 20th century.

Tuesday’s demolition of the three-story building at 198 River St. — known as ​“Building 2” — comes two years to the month after the city, which owns the property, tore down two other adjacent Bigelow Boiler buildings because of concerns with the structures’ collapsed roofs and persistent squatters.

It also comes a year and a half after Armada Brewing opened up a new brewery and tap room in a renovated former Bigelow Boiler factory building down the block at the corner of River and Lloyd Streets.

“The façade along River Street is continuing to deteriorate with bricks falling on the sidewalk within the fenced-off area,” city Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli said in an email comment for this story. ​“Given the planning for environmental clean up and redevelopment is well underway, the City made the decision to take the building down.”

Piscitelli sent along a PDF slideshow presentation that his office gave to the city’s Development Commission in May all about the River Street development district. One of the slides in that presentation details 198 River’s coming demolition, and what might come next.

“The City intends to demolish the last building, known as Building Two, to facilitate redevelopment of much of the remaining Bigelow Boiler property by Bigelow Square,” that presentation reads. Bigelow Square is a company controlled by local builders Carmine and Vincenzo Capasso.

It states that the city has been awarded $646,500 from the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) ​“to remediate Parcel C and has requested an additional $323,250 to supplement the City’s planned expenditure of roughly $400,000 of its own resources to complete remediation.”

That city presentation to the Development Commission then states that ​“Bigelow now is proposing to acquire much of the remainder of the site for redevelopment”

Those proposed redevelopment projects, to quote directly from the city presentation, include:

• Parcel C: Construction of an approximately 12,000-square-foot light industrial/commercial building on the 34,000-square-foot Building Two site.

• Parcel B: Construction of a parking lot on the 19,000-square-foot site to serve Armada Brewing customers and the tenants of the new building of the adjacent Parcel C. Bigelow will enter into a long-term lease with the City due to cost prohibitive full cleanup costs.

• Parcel E: This 15,500-square-foot parcel will be devoted to appropriately-stored materials and equipment for Capasso Restoration which is located at the adjacent property at 34 Lloyd Street. It also will be leased by the City to Bigelow Square.

In a separate email comment provided to the Independent on Tuesday, long-time local historical preservationist Susan Godshall — who serves as the chair of the New Haven Preservation Trust’s Preservation Committee — lamented the loss of another historic building in the area.

“We have come to a sad day in the life of the City’s industrial history,” she wrote. ​“The Bigelow Boiler company was internationally known and contributed to New Haven’s explosive economic growth in the late 19^th century. For example, the early manufacturer’s railway on River Street, at first linked to steamships in the harbor, later grew into the mighty New York & New Haven RR. The Preservation Trust worked closely with City staff for years to save part of this complex, but the combination of larger forces– lack of funds, bad weather, and conflicting goals– was too great to overcome. We deeply regret the loss of almost the entire River Street National Historic District.”

Elihu Rubin, a local architectural preservationist and an associate professor of urbanism at the Yale School of Architecture, also mourned the loss of 198 River. ​“This is sad,” he wrote in an email comment. ​“The most impressive remnant of the Bigelow Boiler complex is gone. It represented New Haven’s high tide as an industrial city; but even more than its historical significance, we have lost a building with character that should have been adapted and reused. In a fast-changing city, with new and basically anonymous housing developments going up every day, old buildings with long histories foster a valuable sense of place. Buildings like this should be ​“mothballed,” stabilized and sealed to preserve future possibilities. I urge the city to consider a more robust stewardship program for disused buildings.”

Jason Driscoll (pictured), the vice president of the nearby Phoenix Press at the corner of River and James, took a step out of his office and into the early autumn heat to observe 198 River St.‘s demolition.

“About time,” he said. ​“It’s been an eyesore and a danger” for too long. Driscoll recognized that the now-being-demolished building is historic, as is the River Street industrial waterfront area. But over the years, ​“it got to be a danger” with ​“a lot of transients in there ripping the metal out” of the extant structure.

What would he liked to see on this stretch of River Street once the remaining derelict building is completely torn down?

“A total revitalization of River Street, if we possibly can,” he said. ​“Some sort of business that would give life” to the still all-too-quiet area.

This demolition comes after privately backed plans to build a new movie studio and to relocate New England Brewing Co. to River Street both fell through.