Hygienic Building History

The Hygienic was built in 1844 by Captain Harris, a member of one of New London's prominent whaling families, as a ship's provision store and crew's quarters. Known then as the Harris building. It was constructed in the Greek Revival style that was the prevailing architectural influence in New London at the time.

The city was burned to the ground by British forces under the command of Benedict Arnold in 1786, and was slow to rebuild until the lucrative profits of the whaling trade financed the reconstruction of the waterfront, in the early nineteenth century. As a part of the redevelopment, the grade of Bank Street (referring to the bank of the river) was raised 8 feet to cover and fill the old foundations of burned colonial structures and to have a commanding view of the riverfront wharves. The Hygienic building foundation was built on the foundation of one of those colonial buildings.

It is interesting to note that while digging out the dirt basement for the Underground Gallery, which was composed of river sand and shore rocks, a cannonball was found. Also discovered, when the building was meticulously dismantled to save historic details, was a bill of fare for the ship's chandlery featuring supplies of different weights of hemp, light and dark varnishes and tannenbark.

The next transformation of the building occurred during the decline of the whaling trade. In a picture map of New London from 1878 the building was listed as the Columbia Hotel. It was probably at this time that the original storefront of brick arches was replaced by cast iron carrying beams and decorative columns. The cedar shingled roof was replaced by slate and four dormers were built to accommodate rooms in the attic.

In 1919 the Swanson Brothers started a restaurant in the building. In 1931 the restaurant became the Hygienic Restaurant and Delicatessen after the Sigros family, who were partners with the Swanson brothers, purchased the business. The name is derived from the Greek mythological god, Hygia, the god of health and cleanliness. One can only assume that at a time of no health inspectors and crude refrigeration, the name Hygienic was used to advertise the purity of the food sold there.

The Hygienic Restaurant became a popular 24 hour eatery with a catering kitchen and rooms on the upper floors. In the 40's and 50's it was very popular and was the place to go for late night dining and Sunday breakfasts. President Roosevelt, when at a train stop at New London station, asked about a good place to lunch and was brought through the alleyways to the Hygienic Restaurant. Al Capone was also said to have dined there.

In the late 1960s as the wrecking ball all but destroyed the residential community in downtown New London and de-urbanization was the trend, the Hygienic Restaurant attracted street people, drug dealers, prostitutes, sailors and denizens of the night. Sailors on shore leave were purported to have frequented the alleged brothel on the upper floors and in 1969 the cocktail lounge was listed in the national directory of gay bars in America.

In 1979, amid the sleaze of Bank Street, local fine artists began having yearly non-juried art exhibitions modeled after the Salon des Independants movement in Paris.

The restaurant closed in 1985 and was bought by developers. The building lay vacant until 1996 when it was slated for demolition to make a parking lot for a neighboring bank. The artists who started the Hygienic Art Exhibitions rallied a grassroots effort to save the building and purchased it in 1998. The building was completely gutted and rebuilt and now stands as a testament to community activism.