As Beth Glandon walks through the Virginia Village neighborhood, she feels as if she was transported back to a different time in Denver’s past.
“It’s interesting to see the integrity of these areas. It feels like you’ve been transported back to 1950s,” Glandon said.
Glandon is the director of Discover Denver, a partnership between the city and Historic Denver that catalogs and documents buildings in each of the city’s neighborhoods. The program launched as a pilot project in the Harvey Park neighborhood in 2013 and just started its second phase in Virginia Village.
The southeast Denver neighborhood is bounded by Colorado Boulevard east to just short of Quebec between Mississippi and Evans avenues. It was built as a suburban enclave in the city in the 1950s and with smaller ranch-style or split level, mid-century modern houses.
“It’s convenient here, but yet you have a little bit of your own space. It’s really a great area,” Glandon said. “It’s an area that you wouldn’t drive through unless you were coming to visit someone.”
Discover Denver has completed surveys in Harvey Park, Elyria-Swansea, Globeville, Berkeley, Jefferson Park and parts of the Cole neighborhood. Volunteers conduct the surveys on tablets, taking notes on each structure, mostly houses, and engaging with the community about their homes. The program is funded by grants from the State Historical Fund through History Colorado.
Volunteers do not knock on doors, but Glandon said people will often come outside during a survey to see what is happening and often will tell volunteers about the history of their home or show them old pictures.
The goal of the project is not to designate more buildings as historic, but to give the city and the people more information about the character of each neighborhood.
“Through our project we are not worried so much about designation. We truly are just describing the buildings,” Glandon said.
In Virginia Village, City Councilman Paul Kashmann noted the importance of maintaining the character of specific developments. In the Krisana Park development in Virginia Village — a subdivision of fewer than 200 homes along South Edison Way between East Florida and Louisiana avenues — he said a conservation district is being explored. The district would not prohibit any development or changes, but would help ensure that future developments fit with the style of the current area.
Kashmann said he is glad to see Discover Denver undertake the effort to document the neighborhood’s approximately 3,500 buildings.
“It’s a great effort Historic Denver is doing to be proactive to take inventory of the housing stock, identifying what has historic significance so we’re not always surprised when something comes up,” Kashmann said. “Maybe we can be proactive in preserving important structures.”
Virginia Village was chosen, according to Glandon, because of how different it is stylistically compared to the other neighborhoods that had been surveyed. It also represents the first foray into southeast Denver.
Architectural historian Kathleen Corbett has been contracting with Historic Denver to lead the volunteers and has enjoyed surveying the homes in Virginia Village so far.
She notes that in the post-World War II era, homes were built with more of a focus on the interior space rather than proclaiming social status with what is outside. Backyards were bigger and there were really no front porch areas. As a result, kids of that era tended to play in the street.
“What these houses are saying is that indoor spaces are very important,” Corbett said. “It scratches my architecture geek itch like you wouldn’t believe.”
Once Virginia Village is complete, Discover Denver will move to City Park West and begin documenting there.
While the city and Historic Denver are holding strong at around 30 volunteers, the organizations are always looking for more to help.
Kara Hahn, a senior planner with the Denver’s Landmark Preservation Commission, said the city is also working on a website where residents can view the results of these surveys and learn about their homes.
“The city is really excited to be out documenting and surveying our built environment and very excited to be out in Virginia Village,” Hahn said. “It’s a great stock and a great opportunity to come out there and look at those buildings and that type of building style.”