Taft Hotel
Known Name(s)
Taft Hotel
Address
Chapel and College St. New Haven, CT
Establishment Type(s)
Hotel
Physical Status
Extant
Detailed History
The Taft Hotel was built by the New Haven Hotel Company and opened December 30, 1912. For its time, the Taft was a modern facility, twelve stories high, offering 450 rooms as well as shops, restaurants, bars and a large ballroom. Located in New Haven's downtown business district, it attracted prominent guests, including notables visiting Yale and Broadway casts performing at the Schubert Theatre.
The Taft began to decline following World War II, as the rapid expansion of automobile travel reshaped American cities and businesses. Competing hotels sprang up adjacent to new highways such as the Wilbur Cross Parkway (opened 1950) and the Connecticut Turnpike (opened 1959). The Taft may have sought to buttress its shrinking business by appealing to African American travelers. By 1973, the Taft Hotel was forced to close; it was converted to apartments in 1978.
Listed in the Chapel Street National Register Historic District
