The April-June 2002 issue of the WWPNA newsletter indicated that a committee was being organized to discuss historic designation for the neighborhod. While the plans were abandoned, it's important to recognize that this is a recurrent theme in WWPNA history.

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Historic Designation

All across central Denver, neighbors are meeting with neighbors to determine how they can have a voice in the way their neighborhoods will look in the future. The challenge is balancing the need for larger single family homes with the desire for residents to maintain the existing character of their block. Our neighbors to the north and west, Alamo Placita and Baker, have already been designated landmark districts while East Wash Park and Country club are currently working on it. Landmark district designation basically stops scrape-offs and provides for design review for additions and pop-tops to blend in with the existing character of the block. Review of additions that cannot be seen from the street is far less restrictive and yes, you can paint your house purple if you want.

A neighborhood committee has been exploring the feasibility of this and other options that include a zoning overlay district that could include design or open space guidelines, down zoning portions of the neighborhood from R-3 to R-2, listing on the national and/or state register as a historic district(s) and finally, implementation of planning tools established by Blueprint Denver, the proposed citywide land use and transportation plan.

In October 2000, the staff of the Community Planning & Development office indicated that Country Club Gardens met the qualifications as a potential historic landmark. The first page indicated why it qualified. The seond page summarized the character defining features of the site (that is, what was to be preserved). Finally, the third page outlined the negotiated settlement between the property owner and the city with regard to landmarking.

To that extent, this rather short document provides a pretty nice overview of the concerns for Country Club Gardens at the turn of the century.

A 2000 article on how a demolition in Hilltop ran afoul of a new ordinance on lot splitting, suggested new means of designing conservation districts, and stirred emotion on City Council.

In 1998, the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission received a comprehensive history of Country Club Gardens. At 24 pages, this application for historic landmarking provided both the narrative and images of the property.

Among its claim to fame were the following elements:
* First FHA project in the Rocky Mountain region
* Designed by the architectural firm of Fisher, Fisher, and Hubbell
* Built by Nicholas Petry, a national leader in construction
* Beautifully landscaped by master designer M Walter Pesman
* Represents strong International design elements, with hints of Moderne
* In its day, it was the costliest private apartment project between Kansas City and the West Coast

Feel free to open up the attached file, and enjoy a story that still reverberates in our area today.