City Council Agenda and Packet 2019 01 15 SP

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INTRODUCTION This historic context documents Louisville, Colorado's historical and modern residential development from 1878 to 2017, focusing on single-family houses. While this context touches on residential development across the city of Louisville (Figure 1), it places the most emphasis on Louisville's downtown historical subdivisions that pre -date 1955. PaleoWest Archaeology (PaleoWest) wrote this historic context for the City of Louisville (City) to help the City implement its city-wide Preservation Master Plan (Plan). The Plan recommends the preparation of historic contexts as a means to strengthen historic preservation practice in Louisville, and "to support responsible decision -making and facilitate interpretation" (City of Louisville 2015:22). As the plan states, "Historic contexts explore important themes to share stories of the past and promote understanding of Louisville's built environment" (City of Louisville 2015:26) and "Historic contexts tell the stories of specific people and places at a certain time, linking those themes back to actual historic buildings and sites" (City of Louisville 2015:A-3). An historic context helps to connect personal experience with the built environment. It also investigates family histories and connects them to overarching patterns in community development. Finally, an historic context promotes accurate, personal recounting of history and provides information that supports City decision -making. PaleoWest structured our research and writing in keeping with the Plan's description of the roles of an historic context: explains what is most important to community identity; emphasizes stories and human experience; complements historical and architectural surveys; and serves as a precursor to landmarking and the identification of historic districts (City of Louisville 2015:B-1). As such, this document first describes the project impetus and its goals and parameters. The document then outlines the methods PaleoWest used to gather information, including community input. Next the document summarizes Louisville's history, with an emphasis on the events and trends (e.g., industry and immigration) that helped shape Louisville's residential development. Following that, the document describes and illustrates the general architectural styles PaleoWest observed in Louisville across approximately 500 houses and provides a list of the defining characteristics of each. After that, the document quantifies the numbers of each style that have already been documented and identifies priorities for future documentation. Next, the document defines the physical characteristics that must be maintained in order for properties of specific architectural styles to be landmarkable. It also discusses the kinds of modifications that could be historically compatible for specific residential architectural styles. Finally, the document provides a list of properties and potential districts recommended for landmarking outreach. 2