207-213 Garden Street

Status: Current

The Zunner Building: named in honor of the architect who designed the building, George Zunner, who was one of the most prolific architects in Hartford. This 1920s building had been a symbol of decay in Asylum Hill, but it is now the neighborhood's newest sign of revitalization. NINA undertook a $2.5 million renovation that completely overhauled this mixed-use building: NINA reduced the number and enlarged the size of the apartments, adding air-conditioning and laundry in each unit, re-configured the third floor as office space, and updated the ground floor retail space.

207 Garden Street and Its Environment

To understand why this building was so important to the revitalization of Asylum Hill, the first step is to see the building in its environment.

The Exterior: Before

NINA has certainly seen worse when it comes to buildings in our portfolio, and in fact 207 Garden Street had lots of things to recommend it as an important historic asset in Asylum Hill. It has some unique features -- not the yellow bricks, which are unusual to the neighborhood (see NINA's homes at 87 & 89 Atwood Street) to be sure, but more the parapets, the tawny brick window frames, and the pressed concrete around the doors and some of the windows. Not to mention the plate glass windows, which were no more -- somebody bricked them in ages ago -- but it was clear from the outset that 207 had had a grand past and could have a great future.

The Interior: Before

As NINA projects go, the interior of 207 Garden Street was not in such bad shape, but it had been neglected and left open to the elements for the better part of two years by the time NINA acquired the building. Not to mention the fire in Apartment 3B, which led to the permanent evacuation of all of the apartments.

Additionally, the building lacked a few amenities that NINA believed would make the building more sustainable over the long-run. For example, the building had 9 apartments but not off-street parking, and for being on both a major commuter route (Garden) and a major bus route (Ashley) the building had not air-conditioning. The lack of A/C gave tenants a stark choice in the summer: open the window to cool off but breathe in exhaust fumes, or keep the windows closed to preserve respiratory health and overheat.

As you'll see, though, this building was always remarkable, and that's due entirely to its location. Aside from being close to downtown, making it a marvelously convenient place to live, it also had both eastern and southern exposure, which meant that every apartment was suffused in natural light.

Phase I: The Facade

Early on, NINA made the decision to restore the facade of 207 Garden Street before starting on the interior. The building, which sits at a critical anchor location in Asylum Hill, was seen by thousands of people every business day, and for more than 2 years they had seen a blighted building that suggested a neighborhood in decline -- and this despite being surrounded by four NINA homes and two more that NINA pitched in on! Work on the facade also sent a clear signal to passersby and commuters that revitalization was underway.

Phase II: Interior Construction

Once the facade was complete, NINA moved on to the interior. The first floor retail spaces, as well as the first floor apartment, were left largely intact: their mechanicals were upgraded and damage was repaired, but their footprints remained essentially the same. On the second and third floors, however, NINA made substantial changes: four apartments on the 2nd floor were converted to 3 larger units, and on the 3rd floor, all of the apartments were converted into a single office space. NINA also began to re-orient the building toward a single entrance off of the lot next door, which was the future parking lot for the building. This re-orientation was completed in Phase III, but some of the preliminary work necessary for that phase was done during interior construction.

Phase III: The Vestibule and The Elevator

The final phase of construction involved the addition of an elevator and the construction of a new entrance to the building to accommodate the elevator. This phase was critical to the long-term sustainability of the building. The elevator made the building accessible to everyone, and its addition led to the creation of a single point of entry to the building for both the 2nd and 3rd floors. That, along with the shared spaces of the vestibule and the common hallways, created a new sense of community within the building.

The Interior: After

A mostly consecutive walk through the inside of 207-213 Garden Street.

The Exterior: After

A walk around the finished building.

207 Garden Street: Before & After

Before and after shots that can be easily paired together are a little hard to come by, owing to the substantial changes we made to the interior of the building. We did, however, find these: and we promise, they do in fact line up!

The Art and Artifacts of Blight

The demise of 207 Garden Street came abruptly: there was a fire in an apartment, and the City of Hartford condemned the residential units and re-located everyone elsewhere. The apartments weren't occupied again until NINA restored them.

Nothing personal was left behind at 207 Garden Street, but the apartments were never updated. As such, there were a few architectural and decorative elements that caught our eye as we went through the place for the first time. We don't usually share these sorts of items, but we thought it was appropriate this time, as 207 Garden Street was with us for a very long time.

The Bar

We weren't entirely sure if we wanted to post any pictures of the Ashley Cafe -- by the time we were at work on Ashley Street in 2004, the Ashley Cafe had become a real problem, attracting crime and raucous public behavior that could run until well after 3 AM. Complaints from our homeowners prompted us to buy out the lease on the bar long before we bought the building, and the effect of that action had an immediately profound and beneficial effect on the neighborhood.

We've certainly heard over the years from many people who were quite fond of the Ashley Cafe, and they tended to refer to the bar's heyday in the 1970s or 1980s. We've been doing some research, however, and we've discovered that the bar has been a source of problems and a magnet for crime almost from the time it originally opened in the 1930s.

Still: we had some photos, and we thought we'd share them.

Timeline

Project History

More progress at 207 Garden Street 3/9/2016 Especially up on thie third floor, in the office.
		Progress at 207 Garden Street 2/19/2016 I'm starting to think we might actually pull this off!
An elevator in the Zunner building 2/16/2016 And we're not the only ones happy about it.
		The new entrance at 207 Garden street is done 01/26/2016 Well, the exterior, anyway.
Almost ready for tenants 01/26/2016 Apartment 2C in the afternoon sunlight. Nice.
		Around and in 207 garden Street 12/23/2015 The exterior is almost finished, and the interior is taking shape as walls go up and counters and cabinets go in. Interior views include Apartment 1A kitchen New staircase on Ashley Street side Apartment 2B kitchen Apartment 2B foyer Christmas in Apartment 2C 3^rd floor office
New lights at the zunner building 12/14/2015 New gooseneck lights are up at 207 Garden Street.
		All the difference in the World 12/03/2015 It's long been a part of NINA's strategy that a restored facade can make a world of difference on the neighborhood. Instead of driving by a gloomy, dour, rundown building, people coming into Hartford now see this beauty. It dramatically improves the perception of the neighborhood, and it's why we always work from the outside in.
The Zunner Building Bricked Up 10/12/2015 The new facade is all bricked up. Close-up shots are from the lower rooftoop. Also included are views of and from 221 Garden Street. It's truly amazing how far a little facade work can go.
		Not so much the rear of the building anymore 10/08/2015 The facade for the newly enclosed portion of the building is nearing completion. We think it's going to look quite smart as people pull into the parking lot and come to live or do business here.
Progress at 207 garden street 09/29/2015 A stroll through 207 Garden Street, showing some of the progress we've made on: the retail space at 207 Apartment 1A the 2nd Floor hallway Apartment 2B the new staircase on the west side of the building Apartment 2C the 2nd Floor hallway from the other side the elevator shaft the 3rd floor office, hallway, and
		Work Begins on the Staircases at the zunner building 04/27/2015 These photos are looking down from the third floor. The stairs at the bottom of the well are the stairs coming in from the outside. The landings, which mark the halfway point between floors, remain in place.
Progress at 207 garden street 03/19/2015 Work underway on 207 Garden: New subfloor in the 207 commercial space Peeks at the second and third floors The new hallway from the apartments to the elevator shaping up The new entrance and lobby to the apartments and offices And, of course, a look up the elevator shaft!
		staircases at the zunner building 03/09/2015 We're getting ready to restore the staircases at 207 Garden Street, so we headed over today to capture the original staircases for posterity and for the contractor who will do the restoration work on the stairs. A lot of the treads and risers will have to be replaced, but we will be meticulous in our effort to ensure it will retain the same look and feel as the original. While we w
A Bird's eye view of 207 garden 01/20/2015 Thanks to Ray Marcotte at The Hartford, we were afforded an opportunity to take some photos of 207 Garden Street from a unique vantage point: the top of The Hartford's Fraser Place parking garage. It's also a view that won't exist much longer, as The Hartford is right now completing environmental remediation on the structure as a prelude to demolishing it.
		Coming Soon: A magic Elevator ride 12/30/2014 Work on the new elevator at 207 Garden Street progresses steadily. This represents a substantial addition to the buildilng, not just by making it much more accessible to future occupants but also in terms of sheer volume. The blue tarp seen in these pictures hides the former "gangway" access to the fire escape, while the clear plastic protects the new elevator shaft. The