The Community Coordinating District (CCD No.1) is a unique metropolitan district (metro district) established to facilitate public improvement and development initiatives throughout the Denver metro area. They’ve recently engaged “virtual town hall” technology through Mind Mixer and are making a push through the attached Mini-Contest to raise awareness of their own website.

CCD No.1 was created to address a familiar hurdle in community development projects. The challenge, as with most collaborative efforts, is aligning multiple stakeholders to work together toward a common goal. This requires a clear and actionable strategy, the right funding resources, and positive action from everyone involved

With many of these issues especially prevalent in Northeast Downtown neighborhoods, CCD No. 1 was established with cooperation from Councilwoman Judy Montero, the Ballpark Neighborhood Association, and Urban Market Partners to help with placemaking efforts and other goals of the Northeast Downtown Neighborhoods – specifically in and around the Triangle Parks area. We’ve all seen the Triangle Parks along Broadway near shelters at Lawrence and know there’s work to be done.

It’s important to highlight that this metro or “Special District” is the first of its kind in that it has no Service Area Plan Boundaries. In fact, the District has no geographical boundaries and provides an “Opt-in” structure so that other groups or community development efforts can someday use this as a vehicle to more efficiently partner with their respective City.

For their pilot project, CCD No. 1 has chosen Eddie Maestas Park at Park Avenue and Lawrence Street, across from the Denver Rescue Mission. The conversation has since expanded and is now addressing issues and opportunities at Sonny Lawson Park and along the entire 24th Street corridor. It’s clear that the issues surrounding the Triangle Parks are just as much about the social infrastructure as they are the physical design or infrastructure. Further, what happens at Eddie Maestas affects Curtis Park and Sonny Lawson Park, so a more global, holistic approach to the programming of the neighborhood wide public realm is needed.

You can learn more about CCD No. 1 by visiting their website or find them on Facebook.

This coming Monday (21^st) at 5:30PM, CCD No. 1 will be hosting its Monthly Public Work Session Meeting at Redline at 24th and Arapahoe.  This meeting is especially important because ALL temporary design plans for Triangle Parks will be presented. The goal is to collect all public and stakeholder feedback and select a concept to advance. The CCD No. 1 Creative Working Group meets every Monday at 10AM at 450 E. 17th Ave #400. This group exists to focus on the temporary and long term vision surrounding Eddie Maestas. The Long Term Vision Group meets every Monday at 11AM at Redline. This group focuses on the entire Northeast Downtown neighborhood area and the many possibilities for revitalization. Any and all are welcome and encouraged to attend both the monthly work session next Monday and the Creative Working Group meetings!

Newly opened in January of this year, the project is the latest completed venture of The Space Creators. If you’ve yet to hear of them, they are responsible for creating a handful of creative “micro-communities” throughout Denver.  Putting a twist on local real estate, they have developed the ability for local start-ups to have the support and consultation they need to thrive. By nature and by design, this collaborative work environment results in a greater collection of professional resources for everyone involved. As Brian Smith (President of The Space Creators) showed me, there are a number of additional features made available to tenants which better equip them to face the challenges of starting a business.

At a beginning price of $325 per month, individuals or organizations can acquire a space at Laundry on Lawrence, along with added benefits like an on-site photography studio, presentation/meeting space, a laptop bar, galleries, a lounge and more. As Brian stressed on my visit, one of the most valuable assets of working in the space is the networking and the creative energy that spills over between the occupants. There are over 25 studios with a diverse range of occupants, including artists, a yoga studio, a black box theatre, and even a meeting space for Comic Con.

Perhaps one of the best features of the concept is the integrity behind it all. The Space Creators are not just selling space, they are investing in local creativity. Coaching of basic survival skills for individuals who are new to business and additional reinforcement resources are also rolled into the package. It’s not just a formal work space for people to get started, it’s a support system that offers your venture (and you) the ability to reach a new professional level. There is a real focus on fostering community from within, but it doesn’t stop there either. The addition of Laundry on Lawrence to RiNo has provided the neighborhood with new meeting space, public art walks and a community theatre. Overall, it’s an asset that strengthens creative business, but that also secures (and furthers) the role that the neighborhood plays in Denver’s larger creative culture. A place once accustomed to washing and drying clothes is now, instead, dripping with imagination and innovation.

To learn more about the spaces and communities created by The Space Creators, visit www.thespacecreators.com

1870s (plus series introduction)
1880s
1890s
1900s
1910s
1920s
1930s

The 1940s was Denver’s ninth full decade as a city and its second busiest from a home-building perspective. From 1940 to 1949, over 16,000 single-family detached homes were built in Denver. While few homes were built during the first half of the decade due to World War II, the second half of the decade represented a time when pent-up demand for housing from the previous fifteen years was relieved through wide-scale construction of new subdivisions in every direction on the city’s perimeter. Thousands of returning veterans took advantage of low-interest, zero-down GI Bill mortgages to fuel Denver’s home-building spree. With the war over, the baby boom underway, and a strong economy, Denver’s population increased by over 90,000 during the 1940s, from 322,412 to 415,786, a 29% increase.

Here’s our Denver Neighborhoods Map showing the city’s single-family residential growth in the 1940s. Parcels with single-family homes built during the 1940s that remain in existence today are colored red. Parcels with homes that were built in a previous decade that remain in existence today are colored gray. Click/expand to see images at full size.

In Northwest Denver, a big chunk of the Chaffee Park neighborhood was built out in the 1940s with substantial development occurring in Sunnyside, West Highland, and Sloans Lake. West and Southwest Denver continued its strong growth from the 1930s as numerous neighborhoods, like Villa Park, Valverde, Athmar Park, Westwood, Harvey Park, and College View/South Platte, expanded.

East of the Platte, the North Park Hill, Montclair, East Colfax, Hale, and Hilltop neighborhoods exploded with growth. Even long-established neighborhoods like Elyria-Swansea, Clayton, and Skyland, witnessed substantial home-building. To the southeast, Belcaro, Cory-Merrill, University, University Park, and Rosedale also grew steadily. Overall, a ring of new and expanding neighborhoods surrounded Denver’s pre-War development by the end of the decade.

Here are the 1940s parcels colored in red over a current Google Earth aerial:

Now, here are Mark’s home photos and architectural descriptions:

The majority of domestic construction halted between 1941 and 1945 due to World War II. Afterwards in 1946, houses based on historical precedent were losing favor to new variations of the modern styles that had only just begun to flourish in the pre-war years.

1. Minimal Traditional. One of the earliest of the modern styles, this type was a simplified form loosely based on the previously favored Tudor style of the preceding two decades. Featuring a dominant front gable and chimney, the steep Tudor roof pitch is lowered and the façade is simplified with the majority of the traditional detailing omitted. The eaves and rake are close as opposed to overhanging in the succeeding Ranch style. This was by far the most common housing type in the post-war years, and there are countless vernacular examples throughout Denver. Top left (Sloans Lake), top right (Hale), bottom left (Montclair), bottom right (North Park Hill):

2. Italian Renaissance/Mediterranean Revival. This style features a low-pitched hipped roof with the less common asymmetrical façade. The arched windows and entry and the tile roof are characteristic of the style (South Park Hill):

3. French Eclectic. An example of the towered subtype, this home features a prominent round tower with a conical roof housing a Gothic-arch entry. The home was completed in 1941 just before WWII halted most non-military construction (Hilltop):

4. Monterey Revival. The style is a free interpretation of the Anglo-influenced Spanish Colonial homes of Northern California. Characteristics include a low-pitched roof, a cantilevered second-story balcony usually covered by the principle roof, French doors which open onto the balcony, and simple Spanish or Anglo-Colonial details (Hilltop):

5. Spanish Eclectic. The low-pitched tile roof, arched entryway and principal windows, stucco façade, and the elaborate chimney top are all common features of the style. The through-the-cornice wall dormers are unusual (South Park Hill):

6. Neoclassical. An example of the full-façade porch subtype, this home features a colonnaded full-width-and-height porch crowned with a roof-line balustrade. The porch-support columns are the slender, square type that came into use after about 1925. The pediment at the entrance is common. Notice the increasing frequency of front loading attached garages (Hilltop):

7. International. Here are some examples of the variety of International style homes built in Denver in the 1940s. Top left (Hilltop), top right (Hale), bottom left (South Park Hill), bottom right (South Park Hill):

8. Second Phase International. This style emerged as the immediate successor to the International Style. The style encompasses functionalism and reductivism in that the design is influenced by functional concerns expressed with austere simplicity. Common characteristics include a horizontal orientation with strong secondary verticals, eaveless walls, large sections with clear or tinted glazing, glass or metal curtain walls, rectilinear conception of the structure’s volumes, no ornament, flat and unorthodox roofs, and the use of the cantilever (South Park Hill):

9. Usonian. The culmination of Frank Lloyd Wright’s later work, the Usonian style is based on his concept of naturalism. Defining characteristics include a horizontal orientation, cubist conception of the building’s volumes, ribbon, corner, and clerestory windows, traditional materials (wood and stone), the use of similar materials inside and out, geometric ornament, overhanging eaves, and the use of the cantilever (Hilltop):

Up next: the 1950s, the decade with the greatest number of single-family homes built in Denver… by far.

Denver New Rail~volutionaries (DNRV) is an informal organization of transit supporters that focuses on celebrating and educating the Denver region about transit’s role in creating a livable community. Their goals and interests overlap a great deal with local professional organizations such as Transit Alliance, ULI, APA, CNU and many other related organizations, but Denver New Rail~volutionaries is not driven by membership fees and is open to all who are interested in meeting and attending events with others who are passionate creating a more livable region through transit.

While all of the other organizations will be valuable partners and opportunities will exist to co-sponsor events and collaborate in other ways, the Denver New Rail~volutionaries will exist as an informal forum for conversation about transit’s role in evolving walkable urbanism throughout the Denver region. Attendance at events will expose participants to knowledge about the history of transit and emerging transit investments in the Denver Region, advantages and opportunities that transit offers and an understanding of its relationship to a livable community.

The Denver Chapter is part of the New Rail~volutionaries, a national networking group associated with the annual Rail~volution conference and passionate about the impact of new professionals in creating livable communities. This group aims to connect a wide spectrum of new and emerging transportation and land-use oriented professionals and advocates at the conference and throughout the year. These individuals share a vision to create places that are more equitable, sustainable and economically vibrant.

The Denver New Rail~volutionaries first event is an introductory happy hour at Lucky Pie, located at 16th and Wazee, on Thursday, May 17th starting at 5:30 p.m. Be sure to like us on Facebook and look for more events in the near future!

For more information about Rail~volution: http://www.railvolution.org/

Facebook Happy Hour Event:  http://www.facebook.com/events/315688138503135/

For previous installments in this series, please use the links below:

1870s (plus series introduction)
1880s
1890s
1900s
1910s
1920s

The 1930s was Denver’s eighth full decade as a city and one of its slowest from a home-building perspective. From 1930 to 1939, less than 6,000 single-family detached homes were built in Denver. Obviously, an overriding factor for this was the Great Depression. Only the 1980s saw fewer homes built in Denver in the 20th Century than the 1930s. Nevertheless, Denver’s population increased by over 34,000 during the 1930s, from 287,861 to 322,412, a 12% increase, same as the decade before.

Here’s our Denver Neighborhoods Map showing the city’s single-family residential growth in the 1930s. Parcels with single-family homes built during the 1930s that remain in existence today are colored red. Parcels with homes that were built in a previous decade that remain in existence today are colored gray. Click/expand to see images at full size.

By this point in time, growth in Northwest Denver was clearly tapering off. Some development was still happening in West Highland, but most of the action was farther south in Westwood, where the great neighborhoods of Southwest Denver were starting to take shape. Along with Westwood, the Athmar Park, College View, Mar Lee, and Ruby Hill neighborhoods were getting started.

East of Downtown, Park Hill, Montclair, Hale, and Hilltop remained attractive neighborhoods for development, and farther southeast, the Belcaro, Cory-Merrill, University, and University Park neighborhoods continued to draw new residents.

Interesting development patterns are also evident by the 1930s. Cherry Creek is still quite underdeveloped considering its proximity to Downtown and other developed neighborhoods nearby like Congress Park. Cherry Creek wasn’t a particularly attractive area due to a landfill near where the Cherry Creek shopping district is today. Also interesting was how the Hale neighborhood was filling in from different directions. On its northern edge, growth was spilling across Colfax from popular Park Hill, and on its southern edge, new homes were being built along 6th Avenue Parkway. The map above also shows how another City Beautiful era-inspired street, Monaco Street Parkway, was clearly influencing development patterns in Montclair.

Here are the 1930s parcels colored in red over a current Google Earth aerial:

You know what’s next: Mark’s architecture photos and descriptions!

By the 1930s, small English Revival cottages had replaced the Bungalow as the most popular low- to mid-priced home in Denver. It’s interesting to note that with the economy in the depths of the Great Depression, some of Denver’s most noteworthy landmark residences were constructed during this decade, as materials were inexpensive and skilled laborers commanded only 50 cents an hour.

1. Examples of the many “English Cottage” style homes from the decade. These homes were single-story with steep side-gabled roofs and gabled entry pavilions, arched entryways, and they often had an uncovered front porch. Top left (Berkeley), top right (Washington Park), bottom left (Washington Park), bottom right (Country Club):

2. Colonial Revival. Here are two homes of this style, starting on the left with a moderately priced “low style” example (Hale), and on the right, a “high style” home (South Park Hill):

3. French Eclectic. Two French-inspired homes from the decade, both from Hilltop:

4. English Revival. A similar series of Tudor homes from the decade. West Highland on the left, South Park Hill on the right:

5. Mission Revival. This style features distinctive Mission-style parapets, a low-pitched tile roof, stucco façade, but with a Spanish arcade style wing wall entry (Hilltop):

6. Spanish Colonial Revival. A flat-roof style with parapet, a stucco wall surface, and Moorish inspired windows with terra-cotta surrounds. The home also has an elaborate door surround with pilasters (South Park Hill):

7. Eclectic. While Denver lacks homes of pure Art Deco in both form and decorative elements, this home features Art Deco influences. The style emphasizes verticality with stylized and geometric motifs (zigzags, chevrons, reeding, fluting etc.) as decorative elements on the façade (South Park Hill):

8. Spanish Eclectic. Cross-gabled with a round center tower and tile roof, this home has a low stucco porch wall which incorporates the arched openings and wrought iron gates typical of the Spanish Colonial Revival style (South Park Hill):

9. International. Here are a few examples of the International style from the 1930s. A flat roof without ledge at the roof line, windows that are set flush with the outer walls, and smooth continuous unornamented wall surfaces are typical. Common elaborations include cylindrical forms, multiple roof levels and ribbon windows. Top left is from Hilltop; the other three are from Belcaro.

10. Art Moderne/Streamline Moderne. Two examples from this style (although the second is often identified as International depending upon the source). The style gives a horizontal emphasis through the use of horizontal grooves or lines in walls and horizontal balustrade elements. Curved corners, windows that turn a corner and glass-block windows or wall sections are typical. Streamlined industrial design for ships, airplanes, and automobiles after 1930 influenced the style as the smooth, curved , aerodynamic forms were used as source materials. The home on the left is from South Park Hill; on the right, Belcaro.

Up next… the 1940s!

Located immediately west of Denver’s Central Business District, the Auraria Higher Education Center is home to three growing institutions: the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Community College of Denver. Together, over 44,000 students attend the Auraria Campus. Built in the 1970s in an automobile-oriented suburban manner, the campus and the rest of Downtown are separated by major streets and challenging pedestrian connections. Now, the Auraria and Downtown communities are working together to forge stronger connections, both physically and socially, and to better integrate the campus into its Downtown setting.

Our conversation about the Auraria Campus, hosted by Ken Schroeppel, includes Jill Jennings-Golich, the Auraria campus planner, Chris Geddes, campus planner and urban designer at studioINSITE, and Gary Desmond, principal at NAC Architects and chair of the Connecting Auraria Coalition.

http://urbandesignpodcast.com/index.php/2012/220/

You can also download the podcast from iTunes by clicking here.

When you are young, you understand the thrill, but it is difficult to break apart the experiential chaos to focus on individual components.  Those of us who are drawn to cities and who might consider ourselves urban enthusiasts could probably make a lengthy list of reasons why we’ve chosen this lifestyle over the placid alternative. Recently, it occurred to me that, if put on the spot, I would likely list predictable conveniences such as public transportation, walkable neighborhoods and density. But what about the less obvious attributes? The ones that may not even have to perform some greater function other than to remind you that you’re somewhere unique.

Cities excite us because of their complexity. The innumerable layers, textures, sounds, smells and distractions keep our senses constantly engaged with our surroundings. The urban fabric is always changing, businesses are coming and going….and so are people. What keeps all of this constant motion and change so thrilling is that, if you blink, you could miss some of the more confounding captivations. Everybody has a different experience depending on what block they choose to turn down. Maybe a good example of this is the tourist who wanders down Curtis Street swearing she hears a subway and is having trouble locating the station (until she realizes that Denver just likes to have a sense of humor with its public art). Even better is when you feel you’ve uncovered all there is to see in your city, then you turn down the same lifeless block you’ve walked down a hundred times and see something new for the first time.

Last weekend I had the delight of being humbled in that exact way. Just off 14th street, a collection of stunningly vibrant graffiti-style pieces stopped me dead in my tracks. The larger-than-life creations triggered a reaction in my hands to fumble through my pockets anxiously searching for my phone to snap a picture from the middle of the road. Yes I looked like a tourist, yes I could have been run over by traffic as a result of my panicked state, and yes I am 100% thrilled to live in a city that allows me to connect with the same sense of wonder and curiosity that I embodied at the age of nine.

Stumbling upon these experiences reminds you that the place you live in is full of surprises, creativity and wonder. It’s the same reason we chose to be urbanites in the first place.  So when presented with the opportunity, remember to stop and smell the roses every once and a while….or at least the sewer gas.

(If you have a favorite urban experience or nuance about the Mile High City that captivates you, I encourage you to share in the comments section.)

The day of the tour was coincidentally the day of one of the major concrete pours for the floor of the new bus box. There were going to be a total of eight pours required to complete the floor – that’s a lot of concrete. Notice the intricacies in the rebar required for the bus box.

I think one of the biggest improvements (besides simply access and capacity) over the future DUS Bus Station over Market Street are the new skylights being installed to allow natural light to flow in. Market Street Station usually seems like a cave, even on very sunny days. It also feels dank and compact with the absence of anything resembling natural light. The future DUS Station will have very large skylights (I believe a total of seven) to bring in natural light.

As most of us know, the portion of the bus box that has been constructed is a little more than half of the future DUS Bus Station. It spans from just west of the Wewatta Street alignment out towards the Consolidated Mainline tracks and the new light rail station. The bus box seems surprisingly spacious, however, once the interior walls are constructed, I’m sure it’ll not feel so large. Not compact or tight by any means, but probably not as roomy.

Crews are currently working on interior utilities (water, power, exhaust, etc.) and to say it looks complicated is an understatement.

One of the more visible components of this project that sparked some of the most intense discussion are the three air intake/exhaust outlets on the western end of the bus box. They’ve been temporarily wrapped in blue plastic to protect their white exterior during construction, but will be unwrapped when construction’s complete. One of the outlets is for air intake, one for exhaust, and one is going to be used only in emergency situations (bus fire, station fire, etc). You’ll notice they’re not perfectly vertical either – this was done on purpose. The designers used analysis looking at how air flows through the site to ensure that the air exhaust doesn’t feed right into the air intake. That’d obviously not be a good thing. The outlets have a bit of a sculptural quality to them, which we’ll see once they’re unwrapped. On the plus side, their blue wraps makes for a cool blue hue in the bus box below.

The plaza up above the bus box and directly adjacent to the new light rail station is starting to take shape as well. The pavers are being laid and the area will be landscaped soon to take advantage of the time without passengers to help them get established. Notice the large planters – the edges of these planters are the perfect height for people to sit on.

As you can imagine, the area is buzzing with activity. There are workers all over doing everything from pouring concrete at the bus box floor to building flagtone-lined planter beds in the plaza area.

This project has come a long way in a short time, but we’ve still got two more years of construction before its all done. The second half of the bus box will be buried, Wewatta Street reconstructed, interiors of the bus box will be completed, the 17th Street Promenade area will be constructed, and the commuter rail station (among many other smaller projects) will be completed all within the next two years. When combined with the transformation of the historic station into a hotel and other private development projects in the CPV, the DUS area will be a mecca of construction over the next few years.

For previous installments in this series, please use the links below:

1870s (plus series introduction)
1880s
1890s
1900s
1910s

The 1920s was Denver’s seventh full decade as a city and one of its busiest from a home-building perspective. From 1920 to 1929, over 13,000 single-family detached homes were built in Denver, the third highest-count decade in the city’s history. This represented more than twice the number of homes built in the previous decade, the 1910s. The 1920s in Denver was indeed, roaring. Interestingly though, Denver’s population increased by only 31,370 during the 1920s, from 256,491 to 287,861, a 12% increase. In the 1910s, the city grew by over 43,000.

Here’s our Denver Neighborhoods Map showing the city’s single-family residential growth in the 1920s. Parcels with single-family homes built during the 1920s that remain in existence today are colored red. Parcels with homes that were built in a previous decade that remain in existence today are colored gray. Click/expand to see images at full size.

Starting in Northwest Denver, growth in Highland slowed to a trickle as the neighborhood approached build-out. But West Highland, Berkeley, Sunnyside and Regis were still booming. The 1920s also represented the first decade when growth south of West Colfax really took off. The Villa Park, West Colfax, and Barnum/West Barnum neighborhoods experienced significant development, and hundreds of new homes sprang up in new neighborhoods like Valverde, Westwood, and Athmar Park. To the north of Downtown, Globeville and Elyria-Swansea continued their slow-but-steady expansion.

Substantial growth to the east and south of Downtown continued in the 1920s. Development in Park Hill was red-hot, while west of Colorado Boulevard, Congress Park approached its build-out. Near the border with Aurora, the East Colfax neighborhood started growing, while the intensive growth from Park Hill spilled over into Hale. Washington Park West, Washington Park, and Platt Park flourished with new homes, and a big chunk of the University neighborhood was developed during the decade. Overland, Rosedale, and University Park also saw plenty of new home construction.

Here are the 1920s parcels colored in red over a current Google Earth aerial:

Time for the architecture photos! Mark has a bounty of great images of the home designs that were popular during the 1920s.

Although as popular as ever at the dawn of the decade, by the end of the 1920s, the Bungalow had fallen out of favor. The City Beautiful movement increased awareness of architecture and intensified interest in the revival styles which peaked between World Wars I and II. Subordinate in popularity only to the long-lived Colonial among the various revival styles, the Tudor (along with various other vernacular English-inspired houses) became the local Denver favorite. The Park Hill, Belcaro, Hilltop, Montclair, and Country Club neighborhoods are noted for their English-inspired homes.

1. Craftsman. Two-toned brick with an enclosed porch, this home has multiple gables and roof planes, knee braces, and exposed rafter tails which are all elements of the style. The fish-scale shingling is atypical. (West Highland).

2. Bungalow. The first is a cross-gabled style with a tile roof and gable windows with pent roofs. The darker brick belt course and base matches the perimeter wall (West Highland). The second is built of cobblestone which is rare locally, but a hallmark of the original California Bungalow (Regis). The third is a side-gable type with false-timbering, a shed-roof with a matching shed-roof dormer, and a fully enclosed full-width front porch (West Highland).

3. Tudor. By the late 1920s, small vernacular “low style” English cottages were becoming very popular. A few examples: The first has Jerkinhead gables in a cross-gabled design. It has multiple front-facing gables with the entryway gable featuring flared eaves (Washington Park). The second is a side-gabled type with overlapping front-facing gables with a prominent front chimney. Styling details include patterned brickwork and half-timbering (Skyland). The third is side-gabled with a steeply pitched roof and a dramatic front-facing wall gable. A large chimney dominates the front façade with dual square shafts (Belcaro).

4. Pueblo Revival. The style features flat roofs with parapeted wall above projecting wooden beams—or vigas—that extend through the walls, deep set windows, and a stucco wall surface that is typically earth-toned. Note the canales or rainwater gutters and hewn-wood lintels which are characteristic of the style (Regis).

5. French Eclectic. Steeply-pitched hipped or mansard roofs are characteristic as are gabled roofs combined with towers. Wall cladding can be brick, stone or stucco sometimes with false half-timbering. Doors are usually the simple arched type. The house has arched roof dormers with a center roundel or a round dormer (also called an oculus). The paired chimneys, quoins at the corners, and cornice-line dentils are additional style elements (Country Club).

6. Italian Renaissance Revival. This house has the low-pitched hipped and tiled roof common to the style. The roof usually has a wide overhang with brackets and the windows and doors feature arches above, as demonstrated here. The entryway has a terra-cotta surround with a glass canopy (Cheesman Park).

7. Colonial Revival. This high-style example features corbiestep or stepped gables, a cornice-line balustrade, dentil molding., a two-story side bay and a single-story wing with roof balustrade. The entry portico with curved underside is a favored revival detail, as is the semi-circular fanlight with sidelights (Country Club).

8. Spanish Eclectic. The low-pitched red tile roof, stucco facade, balcony, and the arched doors and windows are typical of the style. The door surround is emphasized by spiral columns, window grilles and a second-story balconette crowned with a cartouche (Country Club).

9. Beaux Arts. This home features a low-pitched hipped roof common to the sub-type, based on Italian or northern European Renaissance models. The arched windows, carved floral patterns, and baroque detailing are typical of the style (Cheesman Park).

10. In the 1920, architects concerned with a lack of diversity of design formed the Denver chapter of the Architects’ Small House Service Bureau. Their goal was to provide those of moderate means access to superior designs. These homes were compact, comfortable, and economical. Roofs were kept to simple forms. They contained no meaningless or elaborate ornamentation, and often included arbors, kitchen gardens, walkways, and low walls with flower beds, thereby providing the working class with “no frills” designs that were both aesthetic and functional. The 1922 book featuring available styles provided by the Small House Bureau’s Mountain Division included, among others: Spanish, Italian, Colonial, English Cottage, French Country, Mission, Swiss Chalet, and Dutch Colonial. The following is a sample of some of these styles found in Denver:

Left: Spanish (Cheesman Park). Right: Spanish (Cheesman Park).

Left: Italian (Country Club). Right: Colonial (Cheesman Park).

Left: French Country (Cheesman Park). Right: Mission (Washington Park).

Left: Dutch Colonial (Cheesman Park). Right: Pueblo (Skyland).

By the way, in case you didn’t notice, starting with this post in the series we added the name of the neighborhood in which each photographed home is located. We will edit the previous posts in the series to add the neighborhood location for each photo.

Coming soon… the 1930s!

The map at right shows bus routes in Salt Lake City, with each route color coded to show the frequency of buses. What a genius idea.

One of the many reasons rail systems are usually more popular with casual riders than bus systems is that rail systems are much easier to understand. With only five routes, RTD’s light rail map is a breeze to figure out. On the other hand, the bus map is so complex that it’s barely comprehensible even to experts.

Part of the problem is that any large bus agency (RTD included) will necessarily have a lot of routes that don’t come very often, and generally aren’t used by very many people. Those routes clutter up their maps, making the overall bus system harder to understand for anyone hoping to know where they can use transit to travel quickly and easily.

One solution to this problem is to produce a separate map that only shows frequent service routes. Such maps are incredibly useful, but their weakness is that users simply looking for a system map may not be aware that a separate frequent service one exists. It’s asking a lot for people to know what kind of bus map they should ask for.

So why not put the info on the regular map? Do what Salt Lake City’s transit agency has done here, and show the frequent routes in a different color.

Sure, it adds a little bit of extra clutter, but it also adds a tremendous amount of extremely useful data. The clutter cost is low in terms of information provided.

To its credit, RTD’s bus map does show some premium services with different colors. Limited stop buses get a purple dashed line, express buses get red, etc. But a bus that comes every 10 minutes is shown with the same line as a bus that comes once per hour.

I like limited stop routes, but knowing there’s a limited stop overlay on Colfax is far less important than knowing that buses there come so often that riders can just walk up to a stop and never have to wait very long for a bus. RTD’s map isn’t showing the more important piece of information.

Incidentally, Salt Lake City has a very impressive transit system for a city of its size. It’s the 50th largest metropolitan area in the US, with a regional population equivalent to Birmingham, AL and Rochester, NY. It is less than half the size of metropolitan Denver. And yet it has a 35-mile light rail system, a 44-mile commuter rail line, bus priority routes, and a modern streetcar under construction. It is probably the most impressive small city network in the country.