Douglas Orr: Connecticut and Beyond

Did you know that the White House was nearly torn down during the Truman administration? New Haven architect Douglas Orr was instrumental in saving much of it. New Haven Museum (NHM) will celebrate National Preservation Month on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at 6:00 p.m., as Cynthia Wrightsman and Douglas Orr Loganwill present, “Douglas Orr: Connecticut and Beyond.” The free lecture will be preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m. Register here. 

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Orr designed the World War One Memorial Flagpole on the New Haven Green, and the Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library in Branford, Connecticut. He went on to receive national acclaim. “A talented and prolific architect, Douglas Orr, of Stony Creek, Branford, Connecticut, was active in his community and built a national legacy,” says Wrightsman. She notes that two of Orr’s buildings have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places: The New Haven Lawn Club, and the former Southern New England Telephone Company headquarters on Church Street, New Haven.

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Orr began designing houses in the 1920s, soon after he graduated from Yale University. In 1926 he opened his own firm in New Haven. Between the 1920s and 1950s, Orr’s architectural firm had a huge impact on New Haven. He had his hand in everything, from municipal buildings, low-income housing, Yale University building additions and alterations, hospitals, churches, and homes. 

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