James Elmasry photo
87 Trumbull St., en route to becoming 85 Trumbull.
Yale has picked up and moved — a two-story Trumbull Street academic building several hundred feet down the block, to make way for a new planned Economics Department building to be constructed near the corner of Prospect Street.
On Aug. 8, the university followed through on plans approved by the City Plan Commission late last year to relocate the early 19th-century building that formerly stood at 87 Trumbull St., and that now stands at 85 Trumbull.
“Because of careful planning, coordination and teamwork between Yale Facilities personnel, and City Officials, the process went smoothly and was completed ahead of schedule,” university spokesperson Karen Peart wrote in an email about the building move.
The relocated building.
A contributing structure to the Hillhouse Avenue Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places, the house-turned-academic building was first built around 1807 and then rebuilt in 1871, according to the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation.
In a presentation to the City Plan Commission in November 2019, Yale Senior Program Planner James Elmasry said that the university was moving the building from its 87 Trumbull St. site to allow for the construction of a new four-story Economics Department building.
87 Trumbull, at its new site.
Elmasry said during that meeting that the university plans to build out new storm sewers, drainage, utility services, and landscaping for the relocated building, as well as a new driveway for the slightly-smaller parking lot. The relocated building was placed atop a former driveway and adjacent to an existing surface parking lot.
Prior to the move of 87 Trumbull, two brick additions from the 1920’s were demolished.
The former home of 87 Trumbull.
According to the city building permit database, the university applied for a new construction non-residential permit for the now-vacant 87 Trumbull St. site on Wednesday.
The estimated cost of construction for the new Economics Department building is $18,680,000, according to the application.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that a 2004 brick addition called the “Charney Addition” was demolished as part of the move. That is incorrect. The “Charney Addition” actually belongs to a neighboring building, and remains intact.