Connecticut Hall, New Haven

Connecticut Hall, formerly known as South Middle College, is a Georgian-style landmark on Yale University’s Old Campus in New Haven. Completed in 1752, it is Yale’s oldest surviving building and the second-oldest structure built for the college after it relocated to New Haven in 1718. Originally constructed as a student dormitory, it served that role for 200 years before being converted into academic offices. Today, it houses Yale’s Department of Philosophy, while its third floor serves as a meeting space for the Yale Faculty of Arts & Sciences.

Connecticut Hall holds a special place in American academic architecture—it’s the third-oldest surviving college building from the colonial era in the United States and the last remaining example of Yale’s original Old Brick Row campus plan. The building was constructed by Francis Letort and Thomas Bills, with labor that included enslaved African workers, one of whom was owned by Yale’s then-president Thomas Clap. Funding came from a mix of creative sources, including a Connecticut Assembly grant, a lottery, and the sale of a captured French ship.

Architecturally modeled after Harvard’s Massachusetts Hall, Connecticut Hall set the tone for Yale’s future building designs and even influenced campus architecture elsewhere, including the University of Georgia’s Old College and the first dormitories at Miami University in Ohio—an institution once nicknamed the "Yale of the Early West."

Over the centuries, the building has seen several significant renovations: a fourth floor was added in 1797, but this was later removed in 1905 during a restoration that aimed to recapture its colonial appearance, including the original gambrel roof. Between 1952 and 1954, its interior was entirely rebuilt to better suit academic needs.

Saved from demolition during a 19th-century push to modernize the campus, Connecticut Hall remains a vital historical and academic presence at Yale. In recognition of its cultural and architectural importance, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.