Armstrong Rubber Company Building

History

The Hotel Marcel (formerly the Armstrong Rubber Company Building or the Pirelli Tire Building) is located in the Long Wharf district of New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The nine-story building was designed by modernist architect Marcel Breuer in the Brutalist style and originally functioned as an office headquarters for the Armstrong Rubber Company. Since 2022, it has operated as a Hilton hotel with 165 rooms. Over the years, the building has received extensive commentary from architecture critics, particularly for its massing or shape. The building is listed on the Connecticut Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places.

The Hotel Marcel's massing is composed of a two-story base, originally used for research and development, and a five-story upper section, originally used as offices. The two sections are separated by a two-story air gap with three massive piers. The facade is made of Mo-Sai concrete, with recessed windows and an entrance to the east. The base originally contained warehouses and research laboratories extending further west, although most of the extended base was demolished in 2003. The structural system is made of steel and concrete, with the upper floors suspended from a series of trusses. Inside, there is a ground-floor lobby and lounge, with hotel rooms above and an event space on the top floor. The modern hotel is a zero-energy building, relying on solar panels. The building's site includes a freestanding concrete sign to the northeast.

The Armstrong Rubber Company acquired the site in 1966 and developed its headquarters there from 1968 to 1970. Pirelli acquired Armstrong Rubber in 1988 and moved out of the building in May 1999. For the next two decades, the building was predominantly vacant, being used only for occasional events such as art exhibitions. Following an unsuccessful attempt in 1999 to build a shopping mall on the site, the building was sold to Westfield Group and then to IKEA, which demolished part of the base. The architect and developer Bruce Redman Becker bought the building in January 2020 and began converting it into a hotel that September. The hotel opened in May 2022.

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