Yale University School of Architecture welcomes the public to the dedication on October 4 of a new house at 33-35 Fifth Street designed and built by its students as part of the School’s First Year Building Project.
Groundbreaking for the single-family house in New Haven’s Hill-City Point neighborhood took place last May. It followed a contest in which students were challenged to come up with the best design for the double corner lot in a historic district. Students continued working on the 1, 500-square-foot building throughout the summer.
The dedication this week marks the completion of this year’s Building project, which has been a key element of the School’s curriculum since 1967. The project enables first-year students to hone their craft and address social needs at the same time. The finished house is sold at cost.
The Building Project has been providing affordable housing for the city of New Haven since 1989, first in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and, since 1995, with the non-profit agency Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. (NHS).
Henry Dynia, director of rehabilitation for NHS, says that the project has successfully revived many untended and decaying neighborhoods in New Haven.
“We’re a strategic catalyst to neighborhood improvement,” Dynia says, noting that one new house on the block inspires many to seek home ownership.
The new owners of the house on Fifth Street are Dina and Robert Kinney, and because Robert works at Yale, the couple took advantage of Yale’s Homebuyer Program in financing their new home.
The dedication for the house on Fifth Street will take place at 5:30 p.m.
