And the winners are....

So I've shown you all kinds of colorful homes here in Leadville. Below are the most fabulous in my humble opinion. First let me tell you a bit about some of these houses. You've probably noticed that a lot of these houses look the same. The have a simple gable roof in the front, with a large window underneath, and door to one side, or set back just a bit. Most of these houses are called 'shotgun' houses. These are homes that are one room wide, and have two to four rooms going back. They are easy and inexpensive to build, and thus may have been quick, cheap housing for mine workers that flocked here in the late 1800's.

The popular theory of shotgun houses is that they were a precedent in Africa, and came with slaves as they arrived in Haiti. As many slaves were soon brought to the American South, they brought this house style with them, mostly to New Orleans. You can find lots of shotgun houses in New Orleans, and a lot of Haitian culture of course. Now how these spread as far as Leadville is to be determined. Actually you can find these homes as far as California and in most U.S. states. (Though I don't think I ever saw one in Alaska.) Likely they spread with workers of different trades as they were easy to build. You can find more about shotgun houses and look at floor plans here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_house.

Keep in mind that of the pictures I've already shown you, that 'Victorian' detailing was NOT original to the houses. These laborers were not so concerned about adding nice pink shingles to the front of there homes. This detailing was likely added years later as they were sold to new residents and the town tried to add some color to their lives. The houses I'm showing you below are not all shotguns, you should be able to tell the difference pretty easily. They are all fantastic however, and I would live in one in a heartbeat! This first one goes out to my friend Sara who will no doubt love the color...you know you want to Sara!

Seriously....pink??

Oh ya, Leadville loves their pink houses. I find it very odd coming from a rough and tumble mining town, but maybe that's just it. A lot of these are really in your face pink. At least your friends will have no trouble finding your house. "You turn left on 4th street, go two blocks West, and its the third house on the right, about the color of Pepto-Bismal, can't miss it" ...I'll say...


Looks closely at the painting on this house below, a little treat for my deadhead friends...

Purple and Blue!!

Ever since I lived in Portland Oregon, I've wanted to live in a purple house with bold trim. I know it's crazy, but they're just so fabulously fun. I like blue a lot too, but not nearly as much as purple. While most people wouldn't dare take a majestically colored paint brush to their personal kingdom, blue is a bit more acceptable. I was pleased to find at least a few purple houses here in Leadville, but blue is obviously more popular.
Note the very popular 'Victorian' details and the colorful shingles. This is very popular in Leadville, and I'll talk more about that in another blog. In the meantime, enjoy these fabulous houses....

Let's Talk Leadville...

Leadville is a great place for a Historic Preservation Program given it's unique character and small town charm. The history of Leadville is quite interesting. Placer gold was discovered in the nearby hills in 1860 and prospectors flocked to the area. While the gold was limited, large silver deposits were discovered in the 1870's. In 1877, the City of Leadville was founded. Since then, it's had economic highs and lows within the mining industry, and today is a struggling town without an active mine. It relies on it's quaint history and Historic District for tourist dollars.

What the mines have left behind are some fantastic homes in all kinds of unique Leadville style. Among many nicknames, Leadville is known as Cloud City. So you can imagine that people around here want to add a little color to their lives. I LOVE fun colored houses, purple, blue and red among my favorites. I know it sounds absurd, but the standard beige and white just doesn't do it for me. So today I went jogging around town and decided to bring along my camera, below are a few of my fave's. There's so many I'll have to post multiple blogs to include them all. Today I'll start with the green ones...

Wood class...

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, preservation of the trades is a crucial part of Historic Preservation. Among classes in theory, math, architecture and other 'book' classes, we take several 'hands-on' trades based classes so we actually know how to fix up that old house of yours.

Unfortunately, in my all girls high school we did not have shop class. Certainly we had home-ec, so I could sew you a pair of pants if you want, but build you a bird house, good luck. Personally, I think this is a shame. Everyone should know how to handle basic maintenance around their home. I mean how hard is it to fix a door hinge or put together a swing set. For a lot of us we don't even know where to start, so we either beg our boyfriends to help or we shell out a decent chunk of change to have someone do it for us. Like my classmate Chris seen here...
While taking my first carpentry class is a bit intimidating (it seems most of the other students at least know how to use the table saw), it's high time I got some calluses on my hands and figured out all of this wood business.



Once we got started and I figured out what that triangular metal ruler thing does, it's really not so complicated. For my first project I thought it would be pretty cool to make a Shaker style piece of furniture, very small that is. For more on the very interesting and brilliant carpenters that were the Shakers, check out Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers. So I found a nice little bench that I thought would be perfect in my apartment for things like mail and keys. Well clearly I need a lot of practice reading plans, after I got all the wood cut out I realized this was a chihuahua sized bench.

Maybe it will hold my keys, but that's about it. If anyone knows any ferries or gnomes out there that need a bench, let me know. Ah well, I guess its all part of the learning process. Stay tuned for the final touches of my 'bench'. I might even stain it, I think the gnomes will appreciate that.

Mt. Vernon!

Being new to the preservation field, I have a whole new world to explore. There are so many exciting historic districts and buildings out there that I never really gave much thought to. This past Christmas I went to the Washington D.C. area to visit my boyfriend and his family. Oh the possibilities! The East Coast is teaming with history from the built environment. It only seemed appropriate to start with the home of America's first President, so Jimmy and I caught a beautiful sunny day and drove out to Mt. Vernon.



Wow! We all know George Washington was an amazing person, but you can only learn so much about a person in a book. Experiencing his home was pretty surreal. This is a great example of how important Historic Preservation is. Can you imagine if this home had been torn down? Well it almost was. It was in shambles in the 1850's but thanks to the rallying efforts of the The Mount Vernon Ladies Association, the home was saved. This was no small feat, people didn't really get the whole idea of 'preservation' during this time. Clearly these ladies were pioneers for the preservation movement- go Ladies!!

The main home has 3 floors and about 21 rooms. Washington had fairly eclectic taste, his home had some unusual shaped rooms for his time, and he really liked the color green, lots of green! Unfortunately you can't take pictures inside the home, but check out this link for pictures of the interior: http://www.mountvernon.org/visit/plan/index.cfm/pid/543/
Here's an interior picture of one of his workers' quarters, you were free to photo everything outside of the main house



Looks pretty cozy to me! There is so much to see here it's hard to fit it all in in one day. The Washington's were pretty self-sustainable, they had their own gardens, farms, animals, distillery, stable, mule shed & paddock, coachhouse, washhouse, smokehouse, shoemaker's shop, blacksmith shop, dung repository, salthouse, etc. etc. They grew most of their own food and relied on resources from the area. The estate is really big, and really impressive! Here's a photo of the farm, you can see some sheep in the middle of the picture, and behind them you can see the gristmill.



There's so much great stuff to see here at Mt. Vernon and to learn about, certainly I don't have room to explain it all here, but if you'd like to learn more, or to plan a trip to Mt. Vernon, see this link: http://www.mountvernon.org/visit/index.cfm/ You can see a short movie on this website as well as take a virtual tour of the Mansion, and a plethora of other learning tools.

Mt. Vernon was really interesting and definitely recommended for all, whether you're into preservation or not, you'll still learn a lot about life in the 1700's and how our forefathers lived.

What exactly do Historic Preservationists do?

So a lot of people have been asking what we do as preservationists, or a lot of people ask me how my 'Historical Conservation' classes are going. This isn't exactly a new field, but most people aren't aware of the details, and it's just now starting to gain a lot of awareness given our current social, political and environmental issues.

So today I will try and briefly give an overview of what this field is all about. First lets start with the definition of preservation:

1. the activity of protecting something from loss or danger
2. the condition of being (well or ill) preserved
3. a process that saves organic substances from decay
4. an occurrence of improvement by virtue of preventing loss or injury or other change

It should be noted here that Historic Preservationists are concerned with the 'Built' environment. That means we'd like to see those really cool 100+ year old houses in Chicago preserved, rather than torn down and replaced with new construction. From what I've been learning, construction in the U.S. in the last 100 years has become less of an art, and more of a business. Unfortunately it seems as though Americans have really lost their best craftsmen, and the trades have somehow lost their prestige and importance. We place much more emphasis on academic education, and have left the trades for those that we feel aren't fit for 'book work'. (This misconception couldn't be farther from the truth- it takes considerably more mental and physical intelligence to be a good craftsperson than most of us realize.) This is a tragedy in my opinion, but that's a whole 'nother blog and I'll get to that another day.

Preservationists believe that our built environment plays a very important part of our society and culture. We should preserve our past for educational purposes, aesthetics, and craftsmanship. Ever notice how that hutch you inherited from your grandmother is still in great condition, it's super heavy, made of great quality wood and is nearly indestructible? How is it holding up to that entertainment center you bought just a few years ago? We used to place a lot of pride in our work, and that has declined in the 20th century as American's wanted their goods quicker and cheaper. Preservationists desire a return to quality, and want to make sure your Great-Uncle Henry's Queen Anne house stays there, rather than replaced with that house-in-a-box that became so popular after WWI and WWII. Don't get me wrong, a lot of these are great houses, and they met a tremendous need for inexpensive housing for a large population during this time, but the art and individuality was lost, and we'd like to gain that back.


This is surely a very quick introduction to Historic Preservation, and is clearly riddled with my opinions, which I should say, are my views, and not necessarily shared by all. But hopefully you get the point. So that's what I'm learning here in Leadville, how to preserve those old buildings that we all think are so great, I mean, somebody has to do it, right?

Hey everyone, welcome to my blog!  Since this is my first entry, let me give you a little background on me, and what you'll find here in the upcoming months. 

Last August I left a great career with the American Red Cross of Alaska to go back to school to study Historic Preservation.  Going back to college at 35 isn't exactly what I always dreamed about, but so far it's been pretty cool!

Why did I do this you ask?  I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands.  I’m the kind of person that likes to buy a piece of furniture from the store in a box, just so I can take it home and put it together.  I find this to be great therapy and very relaxing.  For many years I’ve daydreamed about what life would be like to be a carpenter, or to work construction, or something similar that is physical and demanding.   For the last 14 years I frequently found myself staring out my window, over my desk, dreaming about being outside and doing something more active.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my work in the non-profit world.  The American Red Cross of Alaska is the best.  It was a very hard decision to leave, but you know what they say, I'd always regret it if I didn't go after that dream.

I didn't really know where to start or where to look.  If I was going to do something in the trades, it still had to have some deeper worldly meaning for me.  Then I stumbled upon the Historic Preservation world and the HP program at CMC.  This had serious potential.  The way I saw it, not only would this path provide me with a hands-on trades based career, but indeed it would be advancing the human condition as well.  Not everyone might agree with that, but I believe that the community that surrounds us has an extremely important influence on our lives.  When we live among beauty, we see beauty, and we become beautiful.  I also believe that knowing where we came from, and knowing our history, is crucial to moving forward and growing both as individuals, and communities.  In this way, I see Historic Preservation as a very important piece in all of our lives by strengthening our communities, and our sense of self, both past, present and future.  I loved the idea of Historic Preservation, and couldn’t seem to let this pass.

So I did it, I left my job at the Red Cross in Alaska, and moved to Leadville.  I’m jumping in to this field with everything I’ve got, and I am so excited about it.  While it’s difficult to adjust to college life at 35, it’s so exciting to think about the possibilities of where I’ll end up in 2 years once I’ve completed the program.  I’m sure there will be stumbling blocks and challenges along the way (like Math!) but these challenges will only make the process that much more rewarding.   I am grateful that CMC has seen the importance of offering this program, as there are very few in this country.  I know this field will grow in the coming years, and I can’t wait to grow with it.  So for me at 35, starting over is an exciting challenge I am glad I had to courage to do.  

So stay tuned as I tackle my classes and learn how to hammer, saw, and build cool stuff along the way!