UPDATE: Landmark Status for Boyhood Home of Red Rocks Architect Burnham Hoyt Rejected By Denver City Council

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UPDATE: In a 7-4 vote, the Denver City Council rejected landmark status for 2849 W. 23rd Avenue during their meeting held Monday, November 21, 2016.

UPDATE 11/15/16: A City Council Public Hearing regarding this property will be held Monday, November 21, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. in the Denver City & County Building (1437 Bannock Street).

According to the Denver City Council webpage regarding speaking at public hearings: "If you would like to speak at a scheduled public hearing, you must sign up during the recess of Council. Recesses vary from week to week, so we suggest you be present at the start of the meeting to ensure your opportunity to sign up. If you do not sign up during the recess of Council, you will not be given the opportunity to speak."

Recently, Historic Denver reported that an application for a Certificate of Non-Historic Status for the childhood home of Colorado architects Burnham and Merrill Hoyt (2849 W. 23rd Avenue) had been posted. Historic Denver described the home’s future as "uncertain," as a Certificate of Non-Historic Status, if issued, could lead to the structure's demise.

Historic Denver and many others have referred to the work of Burnham and Merrill Hoyt as important. Burnham, who outlived his brother Merrill by several decades, has been more widely recognized as a significant mid-20th century architect, most famously for designing Red Rocks Amphitheater.

[1937 or 1938]

Construction at Red Rocks Park Amphitheater

Here at the Denver Public Library, we're proud to have two Burnham Hoyt-designed libraries in our system, including our Park Hill Branch and the older wing of the Central Library. In addition, we are thrilled to house the Burnham Hoyt Architectural Records (WH1188) collection in the Western History and Genealogy Department. Included in the collection are architectural plans for private residences and institutions, correspondence, business records, architectural and project photographs, and personal papers.

If you liked this post, be sure to like the Western History and Genealogy Facebook page and follow us on Twitter at @WHGNews.

[between 1963 and 1970?]

Park Hill Library

1955

Denver Public Library construction

Comments

I spent many long hours in the Park Hill Library, long before all the additions. I felt I was in someone's home library!!!!

Thanks for sharing your memories, Claudia!

I am very concerned that the current climate of our City Council is such that this will likely be granted. This would be more than shameful. By tearing down our special places, and allowing them to be rebuilt as poorly designed, cheap and shoddy developments, Denver has quickly lost its character and sense of place. Very short term thinking on the part of a few powerful people leads to the loss of vibrant culture for generations of people. Please do the right thing.

Thank you for your comments. Be sure to check out the Denver Community Planning and Development Department's page to see a listing of properties with applications for demolition or a Certificate of Non-historic Status filed.

If you look up 2849 W. 23rd Avenue in Google Maps, you'll see an iconic Victorian home, the kind of historic architecture that graces many Denver neighborhoods. And, to the left, another more recent icon: a plain brown box of a building with a lime green door and a white drainage pipe extending over its front fence and running almost to the sidewalk. Parkview Lofts. If the Victorian is torn down, it will undoubtedly be replaced with yet another of these cheap eyesores being thrown up all over town. Write to or call your City Council representative and demand that he/she help protect your neighborhood from the devaluing of properties with ugly architecture.

Thanks for reading and commenting, Carol! Good reminder for folks to be in touch with their City Council representative.

Wonderful short story on a lengthy history of men who brought us buildings for all to enjoy. Red Rocks is a National Treasure and I never cease to wonder about its beauty.

To Carol Fitzgerald's post, one might enjoy this article from the "National Trust for Historic Preservation," -- Six Practical Reasons to Save Old Buildings. https://savingplaces.org/stories/six-reasons-save-old-buildings# [dot] WB9dOiQuA5w

Mike, thank you for reading and passing along that wonderful post!