Lucy Gellman Arts Paper Photo
The Wooster Square Coffee Shop
Jimmy and Sara Wang have been operating the Wooster Square Coffee Shop ever since they took over the Chapel and Chestnut corner caffeinating institution in 2017 from the former popular Fuel Coffee Shop.
Business is good, Zhiming “Jimmy” Wang said, but to make it better the couple came before the Historic District Commission to seek approval for larger. more welcoming windows, removal of the canvas canopy, installing new lights, and other modest aesthetic improvements.
The commissioners listened, and asked politely if they would also consider tilting back the entire upper facade of their building to recreate the “beautiful ensemble” of three structures that was there before.
That exchange unfolded Wednesday night at the regular monthly meeting of the Historic District Commission (HDC) at City Hall. The Wangs needed to come for approval because the coffee shop’s building, at 516 Chapel St., is in the Wooster Square Historic District.
Allan Appel Photo
Coffee shop and facade waiting for improvement.
The Wangs bought the building in 2015 for $525,000. They are preparing to apply for a city facade improvement grant, sought a certificate of appropriateness from the HDC exterior renovations including for the building facade, door, roofing, signage, and some fencing at their establishment.
The biggest changes, Wang explained, would involve replacing the current tiny windows with large new welcoming ones.
The commissioners listened patiently and made a range of suggestions, including for Wang to consider wooden windows, more appropriate for the historic district, than the proposed aluminum-framed type being proposed.
As they often do with first-time applicants, the commissioners took the Wangs through a polite but intensive back-and-forth. They asked him about the diamond-shaped structures and little architectural “teeth” along the pediment of the structure. Would those be replaced or just painted over?
Do the Wangs and their architect know if the walls, in which the new windows will be set, are brick or cinder block or stucco? asked HDC Chair Trina Learned.
“Won’t the new windows have to be supported?” she asked. “So we need more information than we have.”
Several commissioners asked about materials, with Commissioner Doug Royalty in particular asking if Wang knew whether the old shingles on the upper facade he’s proposing to replace or repair might contain asbestos.
Wang said he did not know. In this instance, as with other questions, he promised to return with an answer as well as more precise contractor-ready drawings, measurements, and specifications that the commissioners require before they vote on each matter.
Wang shows the commissioners his plans.
“Would you consider restoring the roof?” Commissioner Susan Godshall asked before Wang sat down. “Those three buildings are a beautiful ensemble.”
Wang hesitated. “That’s a big project,” he said, “to push it back.” It would be much more expensive than he anticipated to tilt the roof back into a kind of mansard look more in consonance with the adjoining buildings.
“But everyone who drives by will approve,” Godshall pressed.
“That’s very expensive,” Wang responded, “and I’d prefer not to do it.”
“Please think about what it’d look like if the roof line were restored,” Godshall said.
Commissioners Godshall, Kimberly, and Learned study the plans.
The New Haven Preservation Trust’s Elizabeth Holt suggested the Wangs might consider adding a transom to the top of each of the proposed windows. “That would improve the look,” she said.
Holt also echoed the commissioners’ previous remarks regarding materials urging the Wangs to “consider material other than aluminum” for the windows.
The commissioners voted unanimously to table further discussion in order for Wang to prepare the more detailed materials required and present at the next regularly scheduled meeting, Feb. 13.