Old Town Historical Building Survey 2000

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"Old Town" Louisville Historical Building Survey Page 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION Recognizing that urban growth is affecting its historical resources, the City of Louisville is taking steps to identify and evaluate the importance of historic buildings and structures constituting its heritage. This report presents the results of a reconnaissance survey of historic buildings occurring within the area known as "Old Town" Louisville, as well as an intensive -level survey of 102 commercial and residential properties. Comprised of approximately sixty-eight square blocks, "Old Town" Louisville includes the city's first sections to be platted and built, and also marks the basic geographical limits of Louisville in the 1920s. The project was funded in part by a grant from the State Historic Fund, administered by the Colorado Historical Society (Project #2000-M1-035). The project was completed by Cultural Resource Historians, of Fort Collins, Colorado, under contract to the City of Louisville. Carl McWilliams, of Cultural Resource Historians, conducted all of the field survey and served as the Principal Investigator. Karen McWilliams and Carl McWilliams worked together to conduct archival research, to prepare the Architectural Inventory Forms, and to complete this survey report. Meredyth Muth, Community Facilitator for the City of Louisville, managed the project on behalf of the City. The reconnaissance survey was completed between September and December of 1999. The intensive -level survey, and associated archival research was completed between January and May 2000. The project had two major components. The first component was a the reconnaissance survey of "Old Town" Louisville, conducted to collect fundamental information about the numbers and distribution of historic (pre-1950) buildings within Louisville's older core neighborhoods, including the downtown commercial district. The reconnaissance survey data is intended to provide the City of Louisville with quantitative as well as qualitative summary data about the "Old Town" area's pre-1950 properties. The second component was to complete intensive -level surveys of approximately one - hundred selected properties located within the "Old Town" Louisville area. The intensive - level surveys focused primarily on downtown commercial properties along Main Street, along with residences on LaFarge Avenue in the Jefferson Place Addition neighborhood. Other properties, on Front, Pine, Spruce and Walnut Streets, and on Grant, Jefferson and Lincoln Avenues, were selected for survey at the intensive -level as well. The following sections describe the project area, provide a brief historical overview, and present the file search results, methodology, and research design for the project. The survey results are then summarized, followed by a series of tables and appendices which present the survey's conclusions in detail.