Description of Project:  

In celebration of Golden’s 150th birthday, which the City celebrated in June of 2009, the Golden Urban Renewal Authority (GURA) initiated a Façade Improvement Program for downtown businesses. GURA budgeted $100,000 for the project, dedicating 50% matching grants up to $12,000 for each approved property. Eligibility was limited to buildings within GURA’s district, and design proposals needed to be both consistent with Golden’s Downtown Character Plan and geared toward preserving and/or restoring each building’s historical integrity.

The preservation/restoration component of GURA’s façade improvement program, which was informed by local historian Rick Gardner, not only guided the process, but also piqued the interest of building owners who may not have been aware of their building’s previous uses or guises. GURA received and approved applications for eight buildings, and hired Ewers Architecture, a local firm, to provide appropriate design renderings. Each business owner then met with Ewers Architecture individually to finalize their design plans. Two of the façade projects involved buildings on Golden’s historic register, and consequently required the approval of the City’s Historic Preservation Board (HPB) to complete. GURA facilitated the process of getting the façade improvement plans on HPB’s agenda and accompanied business owners to the meeting. That Golden’s HPB approved the designs to both structures within its purview without amendments is a testament to the contextual sensitivity that the façade program encouraged throughout the process.

GURA then researched and selected three commercial building contractors with experience in preserving and restoring historic structures. Participating building owners met with and received bids from this group of contractors and ultimately selected the contractor he/she was most comfortable with to perform his/her façade renovation. Ultimately, five of the eight applications followed through with their rehabilitation plans and two contractors–Happel Associates Commercial Builders and Spectrum General Contractors–were hired to perform the work. As detailed in the individual descriptions below, the scope of these projects ranged from painting, to replacing dilapidated awnings, to entire storefront reconstruction.

Baby Doe’s/Fair Building 1116 Washington Avenue:   History: The Fair Building was constructed in 1949 and originally served as the Fair Variety Store (a 1950’s dime store). In 2008, the storefront was still in its original condition aside from the fact that the clerestories were encased in wood rather than the original metal. The building has housed Baby Doe’s Clothiers since 2002.

Project Scope: While the aesthetic integrity of the Fair Building was still largely intact after 60 years, the windows, particularly the clerestories, were no longer efficient and one of the clerestories was cracked. A new, low maintenance, aluminum storefront replete with energy efficient windows (with the same dimensions as the original) was installed to replace the wood one and the front door was preserved and repainted to match the new trim color. The second story windows were also resealed for efficiency and painted to tie the façade together.

D’Deli/Williams Building 1207 Washington Avenue History: The Williams building was constructed in 1901 and originally featured a prominent three-sided bay window on its upper story. Although it initially housed the Oxford Bar, the Williams’s building has also been the home of Glenn Jewelers and Joyce’s Subs. It became D’Deli in 2000 and remains so today.

Project scope: Although the idea of restoring the bay window was discussed, the storefront ultimately became the focus of the renovation. One of the primary goals was to replace the old wood awning with a smaller fabric awning that would allow more natural light to the interior and not hide the building. The project also included rehabbing the front door and replacing the clerestory (which had previously broken and been replaced with wood), and replacing the entire storefront with new glass, trim, and window decal. Though previously hidden by a wood awning that it shared with three other storefronts to its west, D’Deli now stands on its own with a distinct fabric awning.

Plummer Building/Harrison Block 1206 Washington Avenue History: The Harrison Block building dates back to 1867. It originally featured a cornice, tall upper-story windows with detailed arches, an open stairway, and prominent lettering that identified both the building as the Harrison Block and its use as a source for “dry goods, drugs, and mercantiles.” Over the past 140 years, the building has experienced a number of renovations and lost much of its original detail. By the time of the façade program, neither the tall windows nor the arches remained, the stairway had been closed, the brick cornice was replaced with a fl at façade, and a wood awning was added to cover the front walkway. Project scope: At nearly 55 linear feet, the Harrison Block was over twice the size of any other façade project size-wise. Although much of the of the project’s focus centered on replacing the building’s deteriorating wood awning, meetings between the owner (Donna Plummer), Ewers Architecture, GURA, and the building contractor (Happel Associates) produced a plan to both restore the building’s cornice and repaint the building’s façade. The Harrison Block now features a taller, heavy timber awning with standing seam metal roof, and a prominent 5-foot-tall arched cornice that reflects the original 1867 design. The entire building was also repainted.

Image Designers/Ashworth Building 1206 Washington Avenue

History: The Ashworth building’s original storefront, which was constructed in 1906, featured a central recessed doorway flanked by plate glass windows. In historian Rick Gardner’s estimate, the storefront likely featured clerestory windows and a metal cornice separating the first and second floors of the building. The storefront was reconstructed in the late 1930’s, which entailed adding a stairway entrance for access to the second story and relocating the storefront entrance to the left side of the Ashworth Building. At some point, a large portion of the brick around the storefront was painted and the clerestories and metal cornice were covered with wood planks.

Project Scope: The rehabilitation of the Ashworth Building actually coincided with the departure of Image Designers from Downtown Golden, which fortuitously afforded the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum (RMQM) the opportunity to establish a more visible presence in Downtown Golden by moving to a space with a storefront. In what proved to be the program’s most comprehensive project, the original Ashworth Building’s facade was nearly replicated. Happel Associates and Ewers Architecture worked diligently to restore the central recessed doorway, metal cornice, and clerestory windows, while constructing a completely custom storefront out of white oak. While the scope of the project expanded considerably when the deconstruction phase revealed that both brickwork and a new foundation would be required, the end result exceeded expectations. The new storefront features detailed red columns and kickplates with wood trim, and the new metal cornice is accented with stars.

Spirits in the Wind/Avenue Hotel 1211 Washington Avenue History: While the Avenue Hotel dates back to 1904, the building itself has been around even longer. Charles Garbareno built the City Restaurant hotel in 1870 and added a prominent balcony that spanned the width of the building a year later. Under these two monikers, the building served as a hotel for 67 years, when its façade was reconstructed in the premodernist design is still bears today. The building has housed various uses in its post-hotel period, including a gambling hall and World Savings bank. It has been home to Spirits in the Wind art gallery since 1999.

Project Scope: While the composition of the Avenue Hotel’s storefront has changed very little since 1937, the simple aluminum framing does not reflect the building’s vintage or retain any of the detail that the storefront once featured. At the request of both the building owner and tenant, Ewers Architecture proposed replacing the aluminum façade with a more detailed wood frame facade, featuring both clerestories and kickplates. The end result is a beautiful black storefront with significant natural wood accents. The second story windows were also repainted to match the black storefront and tie the building together.