Albertus Purchases the Victor M. Tyler House
Having purchased Tenacres, the Louis Stoddard Mansion on Prospect Hill in New Haven, the Dominican Sisters of Peace (formerly known as the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs) began work on founding the first Catholic liberal arts college for women in New England. On September 24, 1925, the first group of students began studies at the college, named after Albert the Great.
At its beginning, the college was housed in one building that included a chapel, classrooms, library, residences for students and Dominican Sisters, and a dining hall. Almost immediately, the need for more space became clear.
In May, 1926, when the Victor M. Tyler property became available for purchase, the Dominican Sisters purchased it for $225,000. This property, next to Tenacres, consisted of three structures: a thirty-three room mansion, located on Prospect Hill and, down the hill from the mansion, a horse barn and a garage. With this purchase, the total property of Albertus Magnus College grew to 21 acres. Like the Stoddard mansion (Rosary Hall), the Victor M. Tyler mansion was designed by the noted architectural firm Peabody and Stearns. In 1908, the brick mansion was featured in The Brickbuilder, an American architecture and building magazine with a focus on materials of clay. While this distinction was an early indicator of the building’s presence, the final structure of the Victor M. Tyler mansion was not completed until 1915.
As were the Stoddard family, previous owners of Tenacres, the Tyler family was a prominent family, well known in New Haven. Victor M. Tyler, born in 1875, and owner of the mansion and property on Prospect Street, was a banker and president of New Haven Bank, founded in New Haven in 1784. In fact, he and his neighbor, Louis Stoddard, were not only neighbors and friends, both were involved with the New Haven Bank. [Currently, New Haven has a bank called the New Haven Bank that is not related to the original bank of the same name.]
Victor’s father, Morris Franklin Tyler (1848-1907), was a pioneer in the American telephone industry. He founded the District Telephone Company, which developed the world’s first commercial telephone exchange, and published the first classified telephone directory. As the firm expanded, it was re-organized as the Connecticut Telephone Company. In 1882, this organization became the Southern New England Telephone Company—SNET. Morris Franklin Tyler was elected president in 1883, and led the company through more than two decades of growth. This company was one of the largest employers in Connecticut. Over the years, many Albertus Magnus graduates found careers at SNET. While continuing to lead SNET, Tyler served Yale Law School as a professor of law, and from 1899-1904, was Yale University treasurer.
Victor Morris Tyler’s grandfather, Morris Tyler (1806-1876) served as mayor of New Haven from 1863-1865, and as lieutenant governor of Connecticut from 1871-1873. In addition, Morris Tyler was president of the New Haven – Derby Railroad from 1869-1874.
One more recent descendent of the Tyler family by marriage is the late Dr. Paul Calabresi (1930-2003), who was a son of Dr. Massimo Calabresi, Yale medical professor and chief of cardiology at the Veterans’ Hospital in West Haven, and Bianca Calabresi, who taught for many years at Albertus Magnus College as a professor of Italian language and literature. Paul was a gifted scientist, as well as a medical doctor, and at the forefront of oncology research when he died of cancer.
By September, 1926, the Victor M. Tyler mansion had been converted to a residence hall for 18 students. The structure eventually would be named McAuliffe Hall, after Bishop Maurice McAuliffe of the Hartford diocese, a friend and supporter of the college from its beginning. By September, 1927, the horse barn and garage had been converted to science labs. Professor Marcella O’Grady Boveri, a brilliant and internationally respected biologist, was hired to develop the science program. Even in its first years of existence, Albertus was moving quickly to acquire property, to attract distinguished faculty, and to admit students who welcomed the challenge of learning in a Catholic liberal arts environment.
Contributed by: Dr. Joan Venditto