Markeshia Ricks Photos
The boathouse gets long-awaited ribbon-cutting Monday. (The nautical flags translate to spell New Haven.)
It took about 20 years, but the new Canal Dock Boathouse is open and ready to connect people to water.
Mayor Toni Harp was joined by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and other officials on Long Wharf Drive Monday morning to cut the ribbon on the new 30,000 square foot facility, which replaces the historic Adee Memorial Boathouse the state tore down in 2007 to make room for the expansion of the I‑95 Pearl Harbor Memorial “Q” Bridge. (Read more about the building of the boathouse here.)
Harp called the opening of the building a “watershed achievement in terms of coastal access and shoreline development in New Haven.”
The city owns the new building. A not-for-profit, Canal Dock Boathouse Inc. is responsible for operating and leasing the facility, which will be home to part of the University of New Haven’s Environmental Sciences program.
The building will be available for public and private events in addition to storage facilities for watercraft and water recreation programming for New Haven Public Schools.
“This new canal dock boathouse is the brick and mortar interface of the city’s old and new waterfront legacy,” Harp said. “On behalf of all city residents I thank everyone involved we couldn’t be more grateful; we couldn’t be more proud.”
DeLauro gets a look at the interpretive features of the boathouse.
DeLauro, who helped champion the nearly $40 million in federal funding that paid for the building of the boathouse and improvements to the harbor as part of the Q bridge project, called Monday “a very special day, very emotional day.”
“I’m a townie,” she said. “I love this city.”
Gilvarg feted with flowers and a slate from the roof of the previous boathouse.
Hall (center): Gilvarg said, was on site every day for 20 years of the project.
DeLauro said it had been a dream of hers since her days in City Hall in the 1970s, and a dream of others to reconnect the rest of the city to its historic waterfront and Monday’s ribbon cutting was symbolic of that vision finally coming to fruition.
“We have the bridge and now have the canal dock boathouse,” she said. “It is such a joy to see the vision come through, and the people of vision here.”
A salvaged terra cotta feature from the Adee Memorial Boathouse.
Among the visionaries who had a hand seeing the project through were former City Plan Executive Director Karen Gilvarg, City Plan Senior Project Manager Donna Hall, and current acting City Plan Executive Director Mike Piscitelli.
Gilvarg, who retired in November and now splits her time between New Haven and New Orleans, said getting the boathouse to completion “feels great.”
“It’s great to see so many people starting to enjoy it,” she said. “It’s difficult and expensive to build safely near the water and this is great. I hope it is solid as it looks and lasts for generations.
“New Haven had been cut off from its waterfront, and you can meet people in the city who don’t really know that there is a waterfront. But it is the reason for European settlement and why the Quinnipiac were here.”
University of New Haven President Steven Kaplan receives a slate plaque from the city’s Matt Nemerson.
John Pescatore of Canal Dock Boathouse Inc.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, attendees were invited into the building to get a closer look at elements that harken back to the grandness of the original Adee Memorial Boathouse along with new elements that make the building a showplace of this current age. Architects Gregg Wies and Gardner designed the building. Nosal Construction is the contractor.
Local historian Joe Taylor.
Visitors first experience those original elements at the main entrance of the boathouse when they step through the glass-enclosed restored façade of the Adee Memorial Boathouse. The façade of the original boathouse was restored along with many of the terracotta elements, which can be found throughout the building, including the cartouche from the gable end of the building and two of the finials that were on the roofline.
The boathouse is the terminus for the Farmington Canal Greenway; this crew of cyclists made the ride in from Southington.
Hill Alder Dolores Colon said what sold her on supporting the building of a new boathouse was all the recreational programming, plus the opportunity for young minority children in the city to learn the sport of crew and potentially get scholarships to pursue higher education. She said she’ll be among those beating the drum at local schools to make sure students learn to swim and take advantage of all the new opportunities the new boathouse affords.
Hill South neighbor Angela Hatley was among a number of residents who attended the opening ceremony. She praised the final product. She said it gives the city something good to be known for beyond some of the recent negative events on the Green.
“I think they did a really good job,” she said. “The views outside are great and the history reflected all around.”
A community day and open house will be held on Saturday starting at 9 a.m with free community yoga. Games, tours and other activities begin at 11 a.m. A movie night will be held on the pier of the boathouse at 7 p.m.
Alders Dave Reyes Jr and Dolores Colon at the opening ceremony.
Boathouse visitors can learn about the Amistad.
Click the Facebook Live video below to watch some of the opening ceremony.