Located at 204 York Street in New Haven, Connecticut, Gryphon's Pub is an expansive space developed to provide a fun and enjoyable experience for our diverse Graduate and Professional Student body. Please click here for info about renting this space!
The Pub's two floors and outdoor patio are accessible by lift. We also have an ADA-compliant restroom near the downstairs bar.
Downstairs. The downstairs bar features 12 constantly rotating draft beers focusing on national craft breweries and featuring whatever local and international treats we can find. This space is open Tues-Sat. and features the pub with couches, tables, and booths, the pool room (with two coin-operated tables), and the patio.
The patio is one of New Haven's largest bar patios and features enough space for groups of all sizes. This summer oasis is one of New Haven’s best kept secrets.
The Ballroom. The ballroom is our largest open space. It has its own bar space in the back, and in addition to Friday dance parties, is available to rent for all types of events It features a projector and a stage for DJ, band, or theatrical performances/talent shows. The sound and lighting system is newly renovated and able to support performances of any kind. It's the perfect place for events for 50 - 180 people.
The Lounge. The lounge is the premier spot for smaller private gatherings. With its own bar, TV, couches and sound and light system, it can host a variety of events for groups up to 50 people. At a price starting at $100, it is affordable to rent for small occasions including that birthday party you've been putting off planning.
History
In 1923, 204 York St. was built to house the Yale chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. At the time, many of the surrounding buildings were also constructed as fraternity houses after several of the original fraternity houses on campus were demolished to make space for Sterling Memorial Library. You can still observe the Phi Gamma Delta owl on the Yale Cabaret building or the letters Psi Chi on the AFAM House. Similarly, the gryphon of “Gryphon’s Pub” comes from a reinterpretation of the dragon carved above the bay window over the building’s front door.
Remnants of the original inhabitants are still visible throughout the building. In the ballroom bar, for instance, our liquor bottles are housed on what were once bookshelves in the library. The wooden plaque that hangs over the fireplace in the lounge is dedicated to a member of the class of ’25. On Halloween, the public is also given a rare glimpse of the building’s third floor. Now the GPSS chambers, it was once a lodge room for the fraternity.
After the fraternity vacated the building in 1968, the University entertained proposals for the space and in the 1970s chose to re-purpose it for the graduate and professional student community. To that end, the top floor was devoted to meeting space for the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS), where students representing all grad and professional schools at Yale could discuss issues pertaining to their lives, and the basement was devoted to the student-run Gryphon's Pub, where the lighter aspects of community-building took place. Altogether the entities at 204 York were referred to as the Graduate and Professional Student Center at Yale (GPSCY) until 2019, when the name was changed to The Gryphon.
In 1972, the Pub opened at 4pm for happy hour with 25¢ drafts and even served food. (The kitchen was located where the women’s bathroom and coat closet now are.) Today, Gryphon’s Pub still offers great drink specials and entertainment six nights a week, and together with their attic neighbors the GPSS, is thriving as the center of graduate and professional student life at Yale. The ballroom and lounge regularly host amazing events and parties for the entire graduate and professional student community, and can also be rented out by individual students, student groups and organizations, and entire departments or schools for public and private events.