Style and Power Demystified: Civic Architecture on the New Haven Green

The shape of government in New Haven has changed radically in its course from colonial theocracy to the post-industrial present. The collection of civic buildings facing onto the New Haven Green in our day tell only a portion of this history, but contribute in their varied and self-conscious styles to the joining of past and present which defines the Green as we know it. The confidence of monumental expressions, however, tends to belie the more fleeting factors of culture which produced them. Our historical inheritance in brick and mortar does not point to a single right or wrong way to live, but provides the invaluable and instructive proof that our history has always been one of change, and reinvention a constant of American identity. This tour will survey civic architecture on and around the New Haven Green from the 1600s to the present, with special focus on buildings that stand today.