Arts Council of Greater New Haven www.newhavenarts.org november 2012 Arts Council of Greater New Haven newhavenarts.org The Arts Council is pleased to recognize The Arts Paper. the generous contributions of our business, In this Issue November 2012 corporate and institutional members. Executive Patrons Business Members 3 Artists Next Door The Arts Paper is published by the Arts Council of The United Illuminating Beers, Hamerman & Company 7 Yale Art Gallery completes project Greater New Haven, and is available by direct mail through Company/Southern P.C. membership with the Arts Council. Connecticut Gas Cheney & Company 9 November calendar For membership information call 203-772-2788. Yale University Duble & O’Hearn, Inc. 10 New Haven Architecture Giampietro Gallery Senior Partners 18 Bulletin Board To advertise in The Arts Paper, call Bobbi Griffi th Griswold Special Care First Niagara Bank at the Arts Council. 19 Member Organizations Knights of Columbus Thank you, also, to 20 Arts Council Programs Arts Council of Greater New Haven L. Suzio York Hill Companies our foundations and 70 Audubon Street, 2nd Floor Odonnell Company government agencies. Webster Bank New Haven, CT 06510 The Community Foundation Phone: 203-772-2788 Corporate Members for Greater New Haven Fax: 203-772-2262 Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Connecticut Arts Endowment Shield Email address: [email protected] Fund Firehouse 12 On the web: www.newhavenarts.org DECD/CT Offi ce of the Arts Fusco Management Company Emily Hall Tremaine The Lighting Quotient Foundation STAFF Director of Development People’s United Bank The Ethel & Abe Lapides & Marketing Executive Director Wiggin and Dana Foundation Julie Trachtenberg Cynthia Clair Yale-New Haven Hospital The George A. and Grace L. Communications Manager Director of Finance Business Patrons Long Foundation Amanda May Soonil Chun Albertus Magnus College The Josef and Anni Executive Jewish Foundation of Greater Albers Foundation Director of Artistic Administrative Assistant New Haven National Endowment for the Services and Programs Winter Marshall Lenny & Joe’s Fish Tale Arts Debbie Hesse Newman Architects, LLC NewAlliance Foundation Coordinator of Director of Membership Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects Pfi zer Community Programs & Advertising United Aluminum Corporation The Wells Fargo Foundation OluShola A. Cole Bobbi Griffi th The Werth Family Foundation Design Consultant Editor, The Arts Paper Russell Shaddox David Brensilver Quicksilver Communication BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Charles Kingsley Robert B. Dannies, Jr. Kenneth Lundgren Terry Maguire On the cover: The Yale Center for British Art Vice President Jocelyn Maminta is one of New Haven’s many architectural James Alexander Josh Mamis gems. Photo by Enzo Figueres. Page 10 Second Vice President Thomas Masse Lois DeLise Frank Mitchell John Newman Treasurer Eileen O’Donnell Kevin Tobias Bill Purcell Secretary David Silverstone Mark Potocsny Dexter Singleton Ken Spitzbard Directors Richard S. Stahl, MD Daisy Abreu Lizinka Benton Wojtek Borowski Honorary Members Lindy Lee Gold Frances T. “Bitsie” Clark Mandi Jackson Cheever Tyler The Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s mission is to expand the arts and enrich the region as we strive to build a vibrant artistic and cultural community that is representative of all disciplines, fi scally strong, supportive of artists and organizations, rich in ethnic and socioeconomic diversity and accessible to all audiences. In the next issue ... The December 2012 issue of The Arts Paper will celebrate the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s 2012 Arts Awards. Save the date: Dec. 7. November 2012 3 The Thomas Alling House at 1389 Chapel St. as it looked in 2003 prior to remodeling and restoration The Thomas Alling House in 2005 Artists Next Door Building on the past interesting buildings to him when he was 10 years old. in low-income New Haven neighborhoods. Because cost Colin Caplan promotes New Caplan lived in the New Haven neighborhood of Beaver was a pressing concern, Caplan’s role was to “squeeze Haven’s history, architecture Hills, near Westville, an early suburb dating back to the everything I could out of a small space.” 1920s. The cost of some materials—certain kinds of high- Hank Hoffman “It was a very particular development,” Caplan tells quality stone and hardwoods, for example—are much me in an interview at the Institute higher today than they were a century ago. Cost factored Boarded-up and decaying, the Library on Chapel Street where he is into Caplan’s work on the façade restoration of the building on the corner of Chapel working on research. “Every house Horowitz Brothers Building at 760 Chapel St. Refer- and Orchard streets owned by the was set back the same; the sizes ring to old photos, Caplan’s design restored the original Hospital of Saint Raphael was in of the houses were similar. I must 1890s stone façade. But using brownstone would have the crosshairs, targeted for demoli- have read into that an order, a plan, been prohibitively expensive. Instead, they used a new tion. But Colin Caplan, a young a thought. cast concrete product that simulates stone, a necessary architect working for the nonprofi t “But I’ve always been an artist. compromise. Neighborhood Housing Services I’ve always drawn, created, built, “It’s hard to mimic the actual quality of stone—its lon- of New Haven (NHS), found an old sculpted whatever I could get my gevity, its look, buildability, and maintenance over time,” photograph of the house before hands on,” Caplan says. says Caplan. it had a storefront grafted over its From the beginning, Caplan’s Conservation, aesthetics, and historic value are the broad front porch. Struck by its interest in architecture was wrapped reasons to restore old buildings rather than just knock stylish mansard roof and stately up in history. them down and build new ones, Caplan argues. contours, Caplan—working in Pho- “When I went to Montreal and “If someone says a building is beyond repair, I still toshop—colored the old image. He Quebec, I started drawing and mim- question, ‘What’s wrong with the building?’ If it’s here, it created a vision of how the building icking the historic architecture there takes energy to remove it and that stuff has to go some- could be restored to glory and sub- because I was very affected by the where and sit for a long, long time. And sometimes that mitted it to hospital management. ‘old city’ feeling of those cities—the stuff is better where it is now because it can have toxic “They said, ‘We want to see that stone parapets, gables, and chim- materials in it,” says Caplan. happen,’” recalls Caplan. neys,” he says. Historians and preservationists refer to the “embodied Caplan also recalls drawing up energy” of a building. Among the factors that comprise The hospital hired NHS to reno- Colin Caplan. Photo by Beja vate the building. Working on the fl oor plans for adobe-style homes embodied energy, Caplan explains, are the “physical plans for what is known as the around the age of 12 after visiting energy it took to build the building, the man hours, the Thomas Alling House, Caplan taught himself AutoCAD, or New Mexico. time it took to transport all the materials, the amount of computer-assisted design. A photograph of the building Part of Caplan’s interest in architectural preservation repairs” that went into the structure over the years. When after its renovation shows not only a structure but also a and restoration derives from “where I live—there’s more considering whether to demolish or restore a building, city corner transformed. to do with restoration here. There’s more of a history” the concept of embodied energy embraces the difference For Caplan—who graduated from Tulane University in than can be found in more recently developed parts of the in materials costs between when the building was con- 2002 with a master’s degree in Architecture—the prac- country. More important, though, is Caplan’s “apprecia- structed and the present. Other considerations include tice of architecture is intimately bound up with history tion for the real intrinsic art and design and wonderful- the cost and time it would take to clear the rubble and, and preservation. Along with his design work, Caplan has ness of the old architecture here.” for new construction, “how much energy it takes to make served as a board member for the New Haven Preserva- “I like working within the historical style. It’s like an a new brick, cut a new piece of wood, make a new piece tion Trust and was chairman of the Alliance for Architec- order. Otherwise, you could do anything you want. I like of sheetrock and deliver it from China.” ture. Caplan has four books to his credit, beginning with having some constraints, especially when they’re beauti- “It would take so much more embodied energy to build New Haven (Then and Now), which was published in ful,” Caplan says, while noting that he also is interested a new building versus saving an old building. It’s not a 2006 and juxtaposed old images of the city with recent in design unfettered by historic references. value you can quantify just in dollars and cents,” he says. photos taken from the same vantage point. In 2008, the The biggest challenge in restoration projects, Caplan On the positive side of the ledger, Caplan notes that Arts Council of Greater New Haven honored Caplan with says, is money. This has been the case for the work he oftentimes the materials used in the construction of older an Arts Award for his dedication to the preservation of does with Neighborhood Housing Services, a nonprofi t buildings are better than what is available to build with New Haven’s architectural heritage.