My Built Environment: Good, Bad, and Really Ugly

Today it was announced that Fort Collins has been designated as one of twelve distinctive designations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This is quite an honor, and is a distinction that is highly competitive to obtain. The award is given to those cities and towns that offer an authentic visitor experience by providing dynamic downtowns, cultural diversity, attractive architecture, sustainability and revitalization. The other towns and cities that have been selected are Bastrop, Texas, Cedar Falls, Iowa, Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, The Crooked Road, Virginia (what a fun name!), Huntsvills, Alabama, Marquette, Michigan, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Rockland Maine, Simsbury, Connecticut, Sitka, Alaska, and St. Louis, Missouri.

Now comes the fun part, you can vote for your favorite town or city, and you can vote as many times as you want! The more votes Fort Collins gets, the more recognition! Simply click on this link to the Trust for Historic Preservation, and vote away!

Berkeley neighborhoods, esp. those around the UC Berkeley campus are rather quirky. For one thing, they are built on steep hillside, so you will find lots of curvy narrow streets, which has to be a nightmare for the fire fighters. We wandered around the western portions of Berkeley Hills, immediately north of the campus. One of the things we liked about this neighborhood were all the staircases. The streets here are steep and narrow, but in many areas, there are staircases built for pedestrians to rapidly gain altitude, and not have to wander about with the streets. Talk about pedestrian connectivity. Of course, built at the turn of the last century, it is hardly handicap accessible. We also found many sidewalk connections that provided shortcuts between streets and different neighborhoods. Pretty cool, you can see why planners now push these connections on developers now. I always did think it was a good idea, in spite of the NYMBY’ers.

An example of one of the staircases.

Another thing I was really impressed with the area, was how the homes were large, and very expensive, but not pretentious. They are built into the landscape, and don’t overwhelm it. Of course, it helps that the landscape in CA grows quickly. Below are a few photos of what we found.

This one, while not really in the Hill neighborhood was really cool. I liked how it actually addressed the corner lot it is on, and the second floor balcony.

There are entry gates like this all over.

A grape vine is taking over this fence.

This is a rare brick home in the area.

This is a really cool, and huge Agave!

While not rare in these parts, still a huge Redwood.

I really like how this house, though huge, is not imposing and fits into the landscape. McMansions could take a lesson.

A cool hillside house. Notice the garage built into the retaining wall.

This one is for you Lalie.

Just a cool house, cool yard, and cool artwork.

To see more pictures, check out my Picassa Album here.

My friend and I spent a few hours walking around the UC Berkeley campus, and burt off a butt load of calories as this is a very highly campus. And a gorgeous one at that. It contains several historic buildings, as well as some extremely well done newer buildings.

One of the beautiful historical buildings on campus, off the main drive.

This one is the old library on campus. I found it amusing that there was no walk leading up to the grand staircase. (The entrance had actually been moved).

Historical Clock Tower. I think all cities should have some sort of icon like this.

This is the new business college building. I found it to be delightful. This is a huge building overall, but it was designed to resemble a series of buildings, complete with a village square. I also liked how they brought a lot of the craftsman style detailing indicative of the area into the building. They also pulled a lot of  classic detailing such as the arches into the building. Very well done.

Part of the central ‘Village Courtyard’. Did I mention this campus is hilly?

One of the things that really impressed me, among many, was the architectural detailing. The ‘lap’ siding, the window trim, the board and batten, the corbels, and all of it 100% concrete. Talk about fire proof, and it won’t rot either.

For more pictures of my visit, checkout my Picasa Web Album at

A couple months ago, I visited a friend of mine in Oakland, CA. This trip was a bit different from other visits I have made to metropolitan areas. Usually I stay in a hotel, and visit the touristy spots and roam around in a rental car usually looking specific neighborhoods or development projects. This time, I stayed with my friend and did all of our touring using public transportation, or our own feet to get around. One day, we walked around a significant portion of Berkeley, visiting the campus, The Berkeley Rose Garden, and neighborhoods in between. I will have to admit, while I have been to the bay area several times over the years, I have never spent any real time in Oakland or Berkeley. Of course, I have heard all the rumors about how Oakland is rough and tumble, the gangs, the high crime rate, etc. I admit, from the places I have lived, I have been pretty sheltered, not really exposed to a wide range of diversity of ethnicities or lifestyles. Oakland and Berkeley are very diverse cities, having huge variety of ethnic populations. Touring the UC Berkeley campus I quickly figured out that being a white male, I was a distinct minority. Not that this bothered me at all mind you, it just opened my eyes some more. One thing that I did really appreciate though, was the overall tolerance and acceptance of not only the diversity, but for different lifestyles. I saw openly gay and lesbian couples roaming around, mixed race couples, and about everything else too. I found it all to be refreshing and enjoyable. In my opinion all communities should be this way.

Oakland and Berkeley both have a significant population of older working class homes, of all vintages. Oakland also has one of the oldest and strongest historic preservation programs in the country. Over the coming days, I will be posting several pics and descriptions of what I saw, both old and new. These posts will be organized by subject, so it will be easier to find images.

As is common knowledge by now, Fort Collins, as with most local governments, has had a serious reduction in tax revenue during this economic downturn. As a result, the city is having to make some pretty serious cuts to the budget. This is something that is undisputed, and is understood. However, this is one cut being proposed that I, and a lot of other people, are against. There is a current proposal out to cut 1 full time employee from the Historic Preservation office. To many, cutting one person does not sound like much, but in the case of historic preservation, that is over 50% of the staff, as this office only has 1.8 full time positions in the first place. I don’t know of any other departments getting cut by over 50%. This office is involved in working directly with homeowners and business owners on helping them to get there properties designated as landmark properties, they help with grant writing, they help people understand the financial resources that are available to them for renovation and preservation projects on private properties. These are investments that people make in there own homes and businesses to improve these homes and businesses. These are also involved with meetings with new development to ensure that new construction is compatible with existing historical structures. These are two busy people! It is these preservation and improvement efforts that have made downtown and the general old area as popular as it is. Also note, the square foot value of real estate in Old Town is among the highest in the city, since even in down times, these properties are still in demand.

People do ask, what are the benefits of historic preservation? They are many. Historic Preservation is an economic driver. Fort Collins historic preservation efforts are nationally re known. We have among the largest collections of buildings of sandstone construction in the country. When you see pictures of Fort Collins in the national media, you don’t see pictures of the mall, you don’t see Front Range Village, you don’t see Walmart, you see one of our beautiful downtown buildings. During the last 10-15 years, we have seen private owners take on the rehabilitation of many of the buildings in downtown, to make it the success it is today. Downtown is a destination unto itself. How many communities can say that there downtown is more popular and is doing better than the mall? Not many. It is something to be proud of.

Recently I came across this photograph at Ulrichs, located at 111 S. Meldrum It was taken in the 1920-30’s sometime and showcased some beautiful homes. Sometime in the late 1960’s to 1970’s these homes were torn down in the name of Urban Renewal, as was done across the country during the time. This was done in the name of progress, and for rebuilding of downtowns.

So what was built here?

A parking lot.

Is this really progress? Not in my mind. This was done before Preservation became important to the City of Fort Collins. I have also attached a photo of what the same corner looks like today. This is what historic preservation has done for Fort Collins, it has prevented things like this from happening again.

Of course, preservation does not mean keeping it all as is, and not moving forward. Fort Collins has some fabulous examples of new construction and infill development that fits right in with the neighboring historical properties.

Imagine what downtown Fort Collins would be like today if we had lost most of those buildings and we had newer Key Bank style buildings? It would be like almost anywhere else USA.

So I encourage those of you who think this is important, make your views known to City Council members as they wrestle with the budget. I don’t envy their position, and they will have to make some hard choices, as we all have had to do. This is one though, that could be a million dollar mistake in the years to come.