Yale University - Humanities Quadrangle

Property History

Formerly known as the Hall of Graduate Studies and built in 1932, Yale University’s Gothic-style Humanities Quadrangle Building, located at 320 York Street, New Haven CT, is home to 15 Faculty of Arts and Sciences departments, programs in the humanities, offices, meeting rooms, and study spaces for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

Project Scope

Grand Light specialists restored over 100 historic lighting fixtures for this job, including large chandeliers, wall sconces, lanterns, pendant and ceiling lights. Our in-factory evaluations revealed that the majority of the fixtures had an original two-tone silver and black finish, which was not stable and had deteriorated. The Grand Light Team worked tirelessly to restore the original two-tone silver and black finishes, removing the original via media blast before adding an application of a custom matching black finish with silver highlights by hand. Fixtures with a patina finish were cleaned to restore the original aesthetic of the fixture.

Any necessary mechanical or decorative repairs were performed on the fixtures, while missing decorative components were replaced with replica parts.

The existing glass diffusers for each fixture were ultrasonically and hand cleaned, allowing them to be retained in the restoration. Damaged or missing diffusers were replaced with similar-in-kind replication glass.

All fixtures were rewired in with UL listed products in accordance with UL 1598 standards.