Green Hall — 1952

History

Located in the former Jewish Community Center (JCC), Holcombe T. Green Jr. Hall is home to the Yale School of Art and the Yale School of Drama’s Frederick Iseman Theater, a flexible performance space seating up to 200. Constructed in 1952, the building thrived as a community gathering space with a pool, squash courts and meeting rooms. In 1986, the JCC moved to a larger facility and for a decade afterwards, the facility remained vacant. In 1996, the University purchased the abandoned building, which had suffered from water damage and vandalism.

In 1999, Deborah Berke, a professor at the Yale School of Architecture, was selected to lead the renovation effort and create a new home for the School of Art, which for many years shared space with the Yale School of Architecture in the Art & Architecture Building, now known as Rudolph Hall.  

When the newly configured and extensively renovated 76,000-square-foot Green Hall opened, it revitalized a key area of upper Chapel Street in downtown New Haven. Classrooms, studios, office space and digital labs were created and thermal windows and handicap ramps were installed. Behind the main building, a two-story building, designed by Berke, was built at 353 Crown to accommodate offices, studios and critique space for the Painting Department. Dedicated in October 2000, the 110,500-square-foot complex began the consolidation of the School of Art facilities.

Did You Know?

Architects Winstein and Abramowitz consulted with famed architect Louis Kahn when designing this building.