About Us

The English Building Market

In 2003 Robert and Carol were seeking a downtown location for Robert’s Architectural practice. Not finding any suitable rental space they opted to buy a piece of New Haven History. The English Building, named after a former owner of the building has been home to many business including The Loomis Temple of Music, Kaye’s Dept. Store, The Exclusive Shop and now The English Building Markets. The building was gutted and brought up to code in 2003. It also houses Robert Orr & Associates, Breathing Room Yoga, Sarah Aldrich Pilates, The Bourse Coworking, and is currently being renovated to house other office facilities.

Carol Orr has been a native of New Haven for the past 17 years. She holds a BS in Plant Science and a Masters of Landscape Architecture. While still practicing Landscape Architecture, she and her Architect husband, Robert Orr, have spent many a weekend hunting for treasures in the New Haven area. Their first accomplishment was furnishing their 6-bedroom rental in Seaside, FL solely with “recycled” furniture and home décor.

Now it has become an obsession. “I love to buy beautiful things, but I don’t need to own them”. In fact personal style has taken a backseat to the old saying, “there is something for every one”.

Furnishings – We carry a wide assortment of furniture styles, from primitive country to mid century modern to the groovy 70′s and everything in between. Inventory changes quickly and there’s no predicting what will show up when, so keep checking in to see what’s new.

House wares – You’ll find an assortment of useful vintage household items at the fraction of the cost of buying them new. Pots, pans, dishes, flatware and some things we’re still trying to identify.

Clothing – The vintage clothing section is newly curated by Vin-Tan-Thro-Modern, a local clothing guru.  The selection will be rotated weekly with new additions several times a week.  There is also a nice selection of shoes, belts, hats and other  accessories.

Jewelry – We have an ever growing assortment of men’s and women’s jewelry new and old.

Kitchen and Sink Dept. – Words can’t adequately describe the rest of our inventory, books, artwork, lamps and lighting, linens, sewing and knitting, glassware, silver, china and even a kitchen sink.

Wishlist – We can always keep an eye out for something special you’re looking for. Just go to the Wishlist page.