James Dwight Dana House, New Haven

The James Dwight Dana House, located on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, is a significant 19th-century residence both architecturally and historically. Built in 1848–49 for geologist James Dwight Dana and his wife Henrietta Silliman, the house was a wedding gift from her father, Benjamin Silliman, one of Yale’s pioneering science professors. Designed by prominent New Haven architect Henry Austin, the home reflects the Italianate style prevalent in that era.

The structure features three painted brick sections, each roughly rectangular and 2½ stories high, with a low-pitched hip roof and wide eaves supported by a wooden soffit and decorative corbelled brickwork arches. A square cupola crowns the main block, while a three-bay front façade and a single-story porch supported by turned posts add to its elegant yet understated character. Though not unique in design—other similar houses exist—the Dana House has remained largely intact inside, preserving much of its original craftsmanship. Additions in 1896 and 1905 expanded the home to the north and east, maintaining architectural harmony with the original.

The house’s historic value lies primarily in its association with James Dwight Dana (1813–1895), one of the most influential American geologists of the 19th century. A Yale professor and key figure in the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–42), Dana helped redefine the study of geology. His seminal work, the Manual of Geology (1862), was the first to present geology as more than the classification of rocks—it framed the discipline as an exploration of the processes shaping Earth’s landforms, such as mountain-building and valley formation.

Recognizing its cultural and scientific importance, the house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and included as a contributing property in the Hillhouse Avenue Historic District in 1985. In 1962, Yale University acquired the building, and after a 1996 renovation, it became home to the university’s Department of Statistics & Data Science, continuing its legacy of scientific inquiry.