News & Press Releases
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New Haven Independent, Tuesday, September 21, 2010
QUAKERS SEEK DAY CARE EXPANSION IN THE HEIGHTS
Donna Cook’s daughter Sasha was bringing dandelions to her dozen little pals Friday morning at the Friends Center for Children on upper East Grand Avenue in Fair Haven Heights. Without a new building to accommodate them, her 8-week old brother Jonah and another 50 New Haven tots in need of preschool care will have more trouble landing a spot in the program. Not to worry: plans for that new building were given the green light at last week’s Board of Zoning Appeals meeting.
The BZA granted a use variance so the day care that currently has a dozen kids will be able to expand in the new building (pictured) to up to 69 kids from 3 months to 5 years old. Also granted was a special exception so that the Friends Center for Children day care could share the parking lot with the Religious Society of Friends (or Quakers). After the center’s Executive Director Allyx Schiavone made her presentation Tuesday night, a neighbor rose and objected to the potential noise that might emanate from a school that has expanded from a dozen kids to 69.
In her amusing response Schiavone (pictured) said that the infants and toddlers spend a great deal of their time sleeping. She invited the neighbor to come over and to witness the phenomenon. “We’re very peaceful,” she added.
When BZA Commissioner Walter Esdaile asked about parking, the center’s lawyer Scotia Ryer explained that the lot was used by the Quakers primarily for their services on Sunday. The day care’s use would be during the week.
The day care center was founded by, among others, several families who are members of the Quakers. However, the two are separate and distinct non-profit organizations, explained Ryer. The new building (in the rendering) would be situated behind the meeting house and capitalize on the sylvan setting, with many windows facing the woods on land owned by the city. In the proposed 7,000 square foot building a total of 40 families would be accommodated and the new school afford jobs for eight full time and eight part time staff. “Our goal is to increase access to affordable child care,” in the city, said Schiavone.
The Friends Center for Children is a cooperative model; parents must contribute time and sweat equity. Still, tuition is expensive: care on a 12-month basis costs $15,000 per year for the infant and toddler program and $13,800 for the preschool. Schiavone said that 48 percent of the kids are currently on scholarship. The school recently received funding from the state’s school readiness program, which will provide subsidies of up to $8,000 per kid for those families who meet the program’s income requirements. “We want to make sure we have a diverse mix of families from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. If you know Quaker education, we are really trying to create an environment where we honor the concepts of peace, equality, community, simplicity, and integrity,” she added.
The board referred the proposal to the City Plan Commission, which by ordinance must review issues related to parking. The commission will consider the proposal next week.
New York Times, Sunday, January 3rd, 2009 – Metropolitan CT 9
CONNECTICUT DINING – NEW HAVEN
In a Pizza Mecca, A Nontraditional Take
New Haven has a reputation as a Mecca for pizza lovers, with Wooster Street eateries like Sally’s and Frank Pepe serving pies with cracker-thin crusts since the early 1900s. But the abundance and pedigree of pie-serving places didn’t stop Donna Curran and the chef Denise Appel, owners of Zin Restaurant on Chapel Street, from opening their own in June.
Kitchen Zinc, on the sight of their erstwhile Asian outpost, Chow, serves what is billed as artisanal pizza: thin-crust pies topped with local ingredients. They cost somehwat more than the typical New Haven pizza – and are often worth it – but don’t go looking for the usual red sauce and mozzarella.
At Kitchen Zinc, the owners have managed to create an attractive farmhouse-kitchen-meets-urban-chic aesthetic. The wooden tables are unclothed; brick walls are decorated with a few oversize black and white photographs of market produce, and one of a large, sweet-looking goat, the restaurant’s unofficial mascot.
The one-page menu features a few appetizers and a small selection of non-traditional pizzas, both red and white, followed by a listing of meats, seafood, vegetables and cheese from which you can concoct your own…
…
THE SPACE A single, brick-walled room with a bar on one wall, a few booths along the opposite wall, and several small tables in between. The music can be loud, but the staff is obliging about turning it down if you ask. Wheelchair access. Metered parking on the street.
THE CROWD Urbanites, including lots of students, everyone casually dress. Staff is engaging and helpful.
New Haven Register, Saturday, August 29, 2009 - Business E1COURTSIDE COMFORT
New Haven architect redesigns 4 Pilot Pen hospitality suites
The Championship Suite overlooking Stadium Court in one of four hospitality suites at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale in New Haven got architect Karin Patriquin, who lives in Guilford. The suites, which are rented by organizations and businesses for each session of the tournament, were redesigned in a ‘simple’ motif, Patriquin says, to incorporate neutral colors, new furniture, locally grown flowers and photographs taken from throughout the tennis center.
Patriquin, right, talks with Randall Hoder, left, and Heather Bensko at the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament this week. The three share space on Crown Street in New Haven.
Guilford Courier, Thursday, June 2nd, 2005 - Living C1COOKING UP A KITCHEN TOUR TO BENEFIT THE SHORELINE FOUNDATION
Clean Kitchen
The clean, contemporary elegant lines in Karin Patriquin and Angelo Accomando’s Guilford kitchen with its dramatic 16-foot ceiling exude a sense of calm and peace, reflected in the lush woods behind the house seen through the room’s long vertical windows.
Patriquin, an architect who recently struck out on her own after working in the prestigious Cesar Pelli Associates New Haven architectural firm, designed the couple’s new house, where they live with their baby daughter. As they both enjoy cooking, the kitchen was a high priority.
In designing the kitchen, Patriquin says she started from the essence of the house, repeating the European theme of mahogany windows, beams, and trim, with contrasting light wood and stainless steel accents. Working with Gedney, she selected curly maple cabinets, stainless steel cabinet pulls and appliances, and Blue Pearl granite countertops. Lovely, subtle details include a backsplash of tiny iridescent, opaque and translucent glass tiles in shades of blue and gray to add color and warmth, and a graceful Italian blown glass lighting fixture hanging over the center island.
‘My husband likes things that are very warm and traditional and I love clean lines, so we went with warmer woods, textures – and clean lines’ Patriquin says. Accomando is very pleased with how it turned out. ‘I wanted a nice, modern flavor without it being in-your-face contemporary’, he says. ‘It has a very homey look to it.’
This classic contemporary kitchen was designed by its owner, architect Karin Patriquin.
