Casey Brigham

Hygienic Art is a landmark building housing a year-round gallery space & arts cooperative with an outdoor event stage.The building is an integral part of New London’s history. It was built on the foundations of colonial buildings that were destroyed in the burning of New London led by Benedict Arnold and British troops during the Revolutionary War in 1783. The current building was originally built as a whaling provisioning store and crews’ quarters in 1842 and became the Columbia Hotel in 1878.

In 1919 the Swanson Brothers started a restaurant in the building. In 1931 the restaurant became the Hygienic Restaurant and Delicatessen after the Sigros family, the Swanson brothers’ partners who purchased the business. The name is derived from the Greek mythological god, Hygia, the god of health and cleanliness. One can only assume that at a time of no health inspectors and crude refrigeration, the name Hygienic was used to advertise the purity of the food sold there. The Hygienic Restaurant became a popular 24-hour eatery with a catering kitchen and rooms on the upper floors. From the 1930’s through the 1960s it was very popular and was the place to go for late night dining and Sunday breakfasts. President Roosevelt, when at a train stop at New London station, asked about a good place to lunch and was brought through the alleyways to the Hygienic Restaurant. Al Capone was also said to have dined there.

In 1961 acclaimed Vogue Photographer Diane Arbus visited the Hygienic to shoot Jack Dracula, a tattoo artist and resident. The photo was published in Vogue and now is a part of her photographic legacy. In the early 1970’s as the wrecking ball took its toll on the residential and business community in downtown New London and de-urbanization was the trend, the Hygienic Restaurant attracted street people, sailors and denizens of the night. Sailors on shore leave were purported to have frequented the alleged brothel on the upper floors and in 1969 the cocktail lounge was listed in the National Directory of Gay Bars in America. In 1979, local fine artists who started a studio community in downtown New London began having yearly non-juried art exhibitions at the Hygienic Restaurant – modeled after the Salon des Independants movement in Paris – in an effort to bring fine art to the common man. The exhibition continued until the restaurant closed in 1986 and was bought by developers.

The Hygienic Art Show continued in other venues while the building lay vacant and was slated for demolition in 1996 to make a bank parking lot. Nine days away from demolition the volunteer artists who incorporated the non-profit, Hygienic Art, Inc. produced the yearly Hygienic Art Shows rallied a grassroots effort of community volunteers to save the building and purchased it in 1998. The building was completely gutted and rebuilt to serve the community with six affordable live-in studios for emerging artists and four public fine art galleries. Hygienic Art Galleries opened in January of 2000 for the 21st annual Hygienic Art show. The building and the vision of Hygienic Art now stands as a testament to community activism.

Hygienic Art also offers New England’s largest Mural Walking Tour! Explore downtown New London by foot and check out all 24 murals along the way.

Address: 79 Bank St, New London, CT
Distance from Water Taxi Landing: 0.2 miles
Phone number: (860) 443-8001
Hours: Thu – Sat: 12 – 7pm, Sun: 12 – 4pm
Admission: Free (unless ticketed events are taking place)