Arapahoe Acres, Generally bounded to the north by East Bates Avenue, to the south by East Dartmouth Avenue, to the west by South Marion Street, and to the east by South Franklin Street, Englewood

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS CO-15. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Generally bounded to the north by East Bates Avenue, to the south by East Dartmouth Avenue, to the west by South Marion Street, and to the east by South Franklin Street. Englewood, Arapahoe County, Colorado. (Center of Arapahoe Acres, Google Earth,

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS CO-15. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Arapahoe Acres is a well-preserved example of post-WWII suburban residential planning and site design. Typical suburban neighborhoods of the time were designed with linear streets, easily replicated home designs, and were assumed (by many designers and design critics, at least) to be soulless due to their repetitive and uniform design.1 Arapahoe Acres, however, embraced the modern ideals of suburban planning and architectural styles of the mid-century era. The distinctive neighborhood boasted curvilinear streets that responded to the natural topography of the site, no back alleys, and architecturally modern homes with unique floorplans that allowed each home to respond directly to the individual lots.

While there were a handful of people who contributed to the final design of the neighborhood, two of the most important men are Eugene Sternberg and Edward B. Hawkins. Sternberg, a successful and influential architect and planner in the latter half of the twentieth century, was responsible for the site design and the first twenty floorplans built. Arapahoe Acres was one of the first neighborhood site plans that he designed in Denver. It is one of the few that remain, almost completely as constructed, more than half a century later. Hawkins, a developer devoted to the design of modern homes, saw this project through from beginning to end almost a decade of his life never compromising his vision for a truly modern neighborhood.

This neighborhood is currently listed as a National Register Historic District.2 Description: Past features Arapahoe Acres is a single-family home development that sits on approximately thirty acres in Englewood, Colorado and contains 124 homes designed in the International and Usonian style. 1 J. John Palen, The Suburbs (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2 National Register National Register of Historic Places, Arapahoe Acres, Englewood, Arapahoe County, Colorado National Register ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 2 The International Style first appeared in Germany and France in the By International Style was firmly established in Europe and the United States.

The International Style avoided applied decoration, utilized simple forms, and considered functionalism - designing for the purpose of the building. This style also explored varying structural methods to building which allowed for greater design flexibility. Sharing of ideas between architects after WWI lead to rapid advancements in urban planning, low cost mass produced housing and the garden city movement. Architects include: Philip Johnson, Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright in the US, Le Corbusier and Levallois-Perret in France, Adolf Loos in Austria, and Peter Behrens in Germany. First appearing in the term "Usonian" was used by Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to his vision of the U.S. landscape, including city planning and architecture.

Wright saw each project as having its own natural solution based on the site conditions and the client's needs. Wright's Usonian Style of architecture reflected his social ideals: to design buildings for the middle class and to be energy efficient, incorporating open floor plans, passive solar, natural lighting, radiant heating, carports, and homes were L-shaped to fit around the garden terrace. The neighborhood is a rich fabric of unique homes unified by the modern design of the site and the architecture. While each home and lot are different, their individual aesthetic works together to create a seamless character for the neighborhood as a whole. Natural materials, such as stone, brick, and wood complement the concrete block and natural toned colors that make up the building materials.

Careful consideration of design elements is not limited to the homes themselves, but extends across the threshold and includes gardens, shared landscape features that cross property lines, fences and gates, combined driveway and entry walk features, and custom designed street signs. The road layout provides privacy and dictates the use of all the streets within the neighborhood. There are only three entrances from the surrounding local and collector roads. The interior neighborhood streets loop around on themselves and provide access to all homes while limiting through travel from the outside neighborhoods. Where the streets make ninety-degree turns, there are circular bulbs to accommodate turning of vehicles.

There are no alleys in Arapahoe Acres, as is common in many of the surrounding neighborhoods of the same era. The topography provides great interest throughout the neighborhood as the streets rise and fall with the rolling grade of the existing site. The modern homes, with their strong horizontal forms, are designed to work with, and not against, the existing topography. Homes are placed at varying elevations and oriented to provide maximum privacy to homeowners and to take advantage of the solar patterns across the site. ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 3 Present features Currently, the neighborhood is preserved in almost its original state. The integrity of the exterior of the homes has been well maintained this study did not venture inside the homes.

Some of the driveways appear to have been modified, mostly to eliminate the design of two wheel paths in favor of the single slab driveway. There are some instances where contemporary materials have been introduced landscape walls, updates to the colors of the exterior elements, and updates or complete replacement of the original landscaping. This is difficult to document, due to the lack of original garden plans. The vegetation has matured and the variety of mature trees and shrubs complement the rolling landscape and serve to enhance the privacy of the homes. The original site design has remained intact, as it was built. The road alignments and cross-sections have not been modified. Building changes and upgrades respect the original design intent of the neighborhood.

Residents take great pride in their homes and lots by putting care into the maintenance and upkeep of their properties. History: Social context - then Arapahoe Acres was designed and developed during the post-World War II housing boom.

The typical suburban neighborhood that arose out of that market stands in stark contrast to the design ideals that formed Arapahoe Acres: Provide affordable housing in a community; Roads shall be kept to a minimum width with no alleys - increases land use opportunities; Homes are sited with the topography; Sidewalks and driveways grouped to create wider expanses of lawns; Homes sited at degree angles to take advantage of southern exposure for solar heat gain, maximize privacy, and provide views of the Rocky Mountains; Landscape elements such as site walls and landscaping unify the neighborhood.

Originating with the English Garden City movement, modern suburban design placed a premium on designing with the site and for the tenants.3 Now, more than half a century later, those ideals have proven to stand the test of time. More so, in fact, as this neighborhood is now a unique and highly sought after addition to the suburban fabric of the Denver Metro Area. 3 Hugh Casson, M.A., A.R.I.B.A., Homes by the Million: An account of the housing methods of the U.S.A. (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 27. ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 4 The sharp increase in the development of suburban homes after WWII was driven by a variety of factors. First, material production and construction methods were streamlined due to wartime efforts4.

This provided the perfect platform on which mass production of homes could be launched. Second, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the GI Bill made it easier for new homeowners to obtain home loans at a reasonable rate.5 Finally, the lack of adequate housing for returning service members, and a baby boom of that generation, drove up the desire for single-family homes on private lots.6 Mass production of homes and neighborhoods was realized on a magnificent scale after the end of the war. Developers who specialized in war housing projects now turned their efforts to developing homes for the modern family.

Some like Levitt and Sons, one of the largest builders of the time were able to streamline the home building process to an extreme degree.7 They were building homes quickly and efficiently in order to keep up with the high demand. However, this efficiency came with a price, and sacrifices to home and neighborhood design were made in order to meet schedules and budgets.8 The process Levitt used to build homes has been compared to the Ford Motor Company s use of the assembly line.9 The efficiency of home construction led to the eventual site design of the neighborhood. The land was leveled and streets were uniformly and linearly laid out. The individual lots were near identical in size and shape. The floorplans of the homes hardly varied.

This led to a greater efficiency of building homes but also to a homogenized neighborhood. Developments such as Levittown one of the most notable from Levitt and Sons were highly popular with the general public. They made the American Dream attainable for new families by providing an affordable single family home. The large number of homes built in these neighborhoods drew high numbers of like- minded families, creating instant communities.10 4 Donald Albright, editor, World War II and the American Dream: How Wartime Building Changed a Nation, Washington National Building Museum, MIT Press, xxiii. 5 Clifford Edward Clark, The American Family Home, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 6 David L.

Ames, Interpreting post-WWII Suburban Landscapes as Historic Resources, Originally published in Preserving the Recent Past, edited by Deborah Slaton and Rebecca A. Schiffer, Washington, DC: Historic Preservation Education Foundation, (accessed July 26, 7 Peter S. Reed, Donald Albright editor, World War II and the American Dream, 30 8 Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 9 Palen, The Suburbs, 64. 10 Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO.

CO-15 PAGE 5 The FHA s adoption of the National Housing Act helped stimulate the building and purchasing of homes by insuring long-term mortgages by private lenders.11 While this certainly had a profound effect on the creation of suburbs, it also had an effect on what those neighborhoods looked like. The FHA established a minimum set of standards for the construction of homes. Those standards were initially set into place to protect the loans and the consumer by ensuring proper construction; however, they had another effect as well. They dictated a great deal about the lot, the placement of the home on the lot, and even what the home looked like.12 Unfortunately, the standards eliminated many types of home styles, including modern designed homes.

Critics, designers, and planners, however, felt that compromising good design did not have to be a requirement for suburban development. They felt the repetitive homes being built on identical lots, on street after linear street, resulted in a community severely lacking in design and social diversity.13 Progressive thinkers and designers were pushing for a different type of home and neighborhood, one that embraced modern design ideals and responded to the site and the needs of the residents above all else. Builder and Designers of Arapahoe Acres Development in Denver experienced the same surge as the rest of the nation and neighborhoods began to expand beyond the city limits. In August Edward B.

Hawkins - a local home designer and developer, signed an option to purchase a thirty-acre parcel of land in Englewood, a small city to the south of Denver.14 Hawkins had long been interested in the modern design movement. He was originally born and raised Denver but had traveled and worked in the Chicago area as a developer and builder. There, he was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and the modern architectural design movement. After a time working for the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression and at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal during WWII, he began to establish himself as a home designer and builder in the Denver Metro Area.

Prior to the purchase of the land that would become Arapahoe Acres, Hawkins had designed and built thirty-five modern homes around Denver, but had never taken on an entire neighborhood at once.15 With Arapahoe Acres, he intended to build a neighborhood using a modern design aesthetic. 11 Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 12 Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 13 Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 14 According to Wikipedia, in the population in Englewood was and the Census Bureau lists the Population of Denver at 15 Arapahoe Acres National Historic District, Architects, Arapahoe Acres, (accessed June 18, ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 6 Due to the home building standards set in place by the FHA, it was difficult to obtain loans for homes that did not meet their design criteria.

However, homes were still able to be built and purchased speculatively. The Revere Copper and Brass Company and the Southwest Research Institute, developed the Revere Quality House Division. That division established the Revere Quality House Program that provided a Quality House seal of approval and publicity and prestige for participation.16 This program encouraged speculative sales for homes designed outside of the FHA s standards. The requirements of the Revere Quality House Program were that a builder work directly with a licensed architect. They must design and build homes to be part of a multi-house subdivision.

The builder must guarantee the construction for a year and the cost of the homes must be less than preferably less than .17 To participate in the program, Hawkins who was not an accredited architect hired Eugene Sternberg, an architect and professor of architecture at the University of Denver s School of Architecture and Planning. Sternberg was an architect born in Czechoslovakia, who received his formal training in architecture at London University s Bartlett School of Architecture.18 His studies there involved architectural design and town planning. One of his projects helped redesign a war ravaged town in Czechoslovakia.

After the completion of his degree in Sternberg apprenticed with Sir Patrick Abercrombie a notable English town planner and worked on a variety of large-scale and radical replanning of cities after the war from However, he began to long for the opportunity to see some of his work constructed. It was Sternberg s connections and incomparable work ethic that brought him to Denver. Upon recommendation from Sir Patrick Abercrombie, he was hired as a professor of British planning, design, and theory at Cornell University.

However, he found Cornell to be at odds with his desire to see thoughtful, creative design implemented.20 Calling upon another recommendation this time from the renowned Lewis Mumford21 he was offered, and accepted, a position at the University of Denver in 16 Architects and Operative Builders: Revere Quality Houses, Architectural Record, May 17 Architects and Operative Builders: Revere Quality Houses, Architectural Record, May 18 Eugene Sternberg, Family History, Autobiography and Personal Files, (hereafter cited as Autobiography), 19 Sternberg, Autobiography, 20 Sternberg did not care for Cornell s stipulation that professors must not practice their profession outside of their teaching duties. He also found their planning curriculum at odds with his professional goals.

21 Lewis Mumford was a renowned writer and critic, well known for his work on city planning and design. His best known publication is The City in History , which won the National Book Award. Through his work, Mumford was acquainted with Carl Feiss, Dean of the School of Architecture, University of Denver to ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 7 Sternberg and Hawkins met when Hawkins submitted a bid to build the Mile High Housing Association, the first neighborhood Sternberg designed southeast of Denver in Arapahoe County, west of South Dahlia Street and south of East Illiff Avenue. Mile High Housing Association was a cooperative housing project designed to provide affordable, permanent housing, mostly for University of Denver faculty.

This project brought together Sternberg s desire to provide a neighborhood of affordable housing with a modern design aesthetic and progressive planning ideals.23 The planning also is aimed at creating a residential atmosphere with community feeling instead of block after block development .24 In Sternberg and Hawkins joined forces. While each had slightly different goals Hawkins to develop and sell an entire neighborhood of modern homes, and Sternberg to provide affordable housing with a modern design aesthetic they worked well together at the beginning. if the curve of the street has nothing to do with the contours and if it does not provide an opportunity orient the houses with a maximum of sunshine, view privacy, it is merely confusing and useless.

25 Eugene Sternberg Sternberg designed the initial site plan for the Arapahoe Acres neighborhood. Calling upon his progressive site design experience, he idealized that through traffic should be removed from within neighborhoods by using curvilinear roads that did not directly connect to the major roads along the outside of the neighborhood. He felt that streets should only be wide enough for the traffic they are designed to bear.26 The curvilinear streets proved to be problematic to the Fire Department, as they preferred to keep the streets as straight as possible to aid the fire truck drivers.

Sternberg, however, felt that the curvilinear roads were such a vital piece of the site design that he pushed back against the Fire Department s concern and was successful in keeping the integrity of his street design. Planners are convinced that by a careful grouping of buildings, and a definite separation of one neighborhood from another using as boundaries through traffic streets, park areas, etc. a desirable measure of community feeling and feeling of belonging can be reintroduced into city life. Eugene Sternberg27 22 Sternberg, Autobiography, 23 Sternberg, Autobiography, 24 Siting with sight-lines.

These houses near Denver are foresighted looking at the view, not into the neighbor's windows, House + Home, November 25 Eugene Sternberg, What is City Planning, Daily Journal, (December 21, 10. 26 Sternberg, What is City Planning, 10. 27 Eugene Sternberg, What is City Planning, Daily Journal, (December 21, 10. ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 8 Orientation of the homes was a thoughtful and precise design decision. The homes were set between a 23-degree and 45-degree angle to street line, behind a 25 setback from the street, so as to take advantage of solar gain and views.28 This design consideration was one that Sternberg felt strongly about in terms of site planning as practice.

buildings can be oriented to get the best view, without disturbing that of others; that it has a desirable exposure for use of solar heat; that it has a maximum of privacy from neighbors; that for each building, and even for the visitor passing through the area, houses are grouped in such a way as to provide continuous interest, variety and attractiveness. 29 The site design of the neighborhood accomplished other social goals as well. Sternberg and Hawkins wanted to promote diversity in terms of family size and home prices, therefore, lots vary in size from to To promote a sense of community and well-being, Sternberg wanted to include several small green spaces and a park in the site plan.

Hawkins, however, removed community space from the plan in order to provide more space to build additional homes. This issue became the first dissension between the two men.30 In November Hawkins purchased the land with an loan from Central Bank that also funded the initial construction. Homes were initially built on speculation and later built through a contractual process between the homeowner and Hawkins. In the initial homes in Arapahoe Acres were built using the first floorplans designed by Sternberg. There was an extreme amount of interest in the homes and neighborhood.

The model home was sold for more than the original asking price of That was also more than the maximum agreed upon by Hawkins and Sternberg.31 Since Sternberg s goal for this neighborhood was to provide affordable housing,32 this led to the final discordance between the two men. Realizing they had different goals for the work they intended to do with the neighborhood, they parted ways rather than work at odds with one another.33 Approximately twenty of the 124 homes were built in Arapahoe Acres based on Sternberg s homes plans and using his site plan. After Sternberg s departure, Hawkins continued to develop the neighborhood. The homes were designed by Hawkins and another architect, Joseph (Gerry) G.

Dion, a student of Sternberg s 28 Diane Wray Tomasso, The Arapahoe Acre Historic District, (Denver: Historic Denver, Inc. 18. 29 Eugene Sternberg, What is City Planning, Daily Journal, (December 21, 10. 30 Diane Wray Tomasso, The Arapahoe Acre Historic District, (Denver: Historic Denver, Inc. 8. 31 Editorial, Subdivision s First Home Open Sunday, Denver Post, March 9, 32 Median home values in Colorado in was according to the United States Census of Housing 33 National Register of Historic Places, Arapahoe Acres, Englewood, Arapahoe County, Colorado National Register ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 9 at the University of Denver.34 For them, the design of the homes and architectural features continued to take precedence over providing affordable housing.

In Hawkins completed the final home in Arapahoe Acres. He moved into that home and lived there until he retired with his wife, Charlotte. He had devoted almost ten years of his life to the design and construction of the neighborhood. He had lived in several of the homes while construction was ongoing around him and became a vital and integral part of the social fabric of the neighborhood. Eugene Sternberg went on to become highly respected in the fields of architecture and planning. In addition to his career at the University of Denver, he designed neighborhoods, schools, and medical and office buildings. His personal ideals and design theories were a standard through all of his built works.

His contributions to communities throughout the several western states can still be experienced today. Other notable contributors to the neighborhood are Hawkins construction manager, Clyde Mannon35 and landscape architect Stanley Yoshimura36. While Hawkins provided a lot of the landscape design himself, Yoshimura designed several Japanese style gardens at a few individual homes. Lack of original design drawings and information about Yoshimura kept this study from including that design work. the impact of World War II on Denver may rank as of equal importance in its development with the first discoveries of gold in Cherry Creek.

37 Eugene Sternberg Social context - now In response to the exceptional design, current residents developed a grass roots effort to preserve their homes and neighborhood. They created a historic neighborhood group, the Arapahoe Acres Historic District. One resident, Diane Wray Tomasso, a self-employed historic preservation consultant, wrote the application for the National Historic Register and a History, Design Vocabulary and Preservation Guide for the neighborhood. In November Arapahoe Acres was listed on National Register of Historic Districts. It was the first post- war residential subdivision to be listed as a National Register Historic District.

Few other neighborhoods existed at the time, let alone still exist, that showcase both the sensitive site planning and modern architecture that Arapahoe Acres 34 Diane Wray Tomasso, The Arapahoe Acre Historic District, (Denver: Historic Denver, Inc., 9. 35 Clyde Mannon, May 18, - February 7, General Investments Company and Hawkins Associates. 36 Stanley Yoshimura, or Sky Landscaping. 37 Eugene Sternberg, What is City Planning, Daily Journal, (December 21, 10. ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 10 does. The success of this project lies heavily in the deeply held convictions of the men who designed it. Both Hawkins and Sternberg envisioned something greater than the typical suburban neighborhood and home design of the time.

Their commitment to the improvement of people s lives through good design continues today, more than 60 years after the neighborhood was built.

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS CO-15. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Albright, Donald, editor. World War II and the American Dream: How Wartime Building Changed a Nation. Washington National Building Museum, MIT Press, Ames, David L. Interpreting post-WWII Suburban Landscapes as Historic Resources. Originally published in Preserving the Recent Past. Edited by Deborah Slaton and Rebecca A. Schiffer. Washington, Historic Preservation Education Foundation, https://www.nps.gov/nr/ (accessed July 26, "Architects and Operative Builders: Revere Quality Houses." Architectural Record, May Arapahoe Acres Historic District History: Architects and Designers. (accessed June 18, Arapahoe Acres Historic Preservation District. History. (accessed June 18, Casson, Hugh, M.A., A.R.I.B.A. Homes by the Million: An account of the housing methods of the U.S.A.

Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Clark, Clifford Edward. The American Family Home, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, National Register of Historic Places, Arapahoe Acres, Englewood, Arapahoe County, Colorado National Register Palen, John J. The Suburbs. New York: McGraw-Hill, Reed, Peter S. World War II and the American Dream: How Wartime Building Changed a Nation, Washington National Building Museum, MIT Press, ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 11 Siting With Sight-lines. These houses near Denver are foresighted looking at the view, not into the neighbor's windows. House + Home, November Sternberg, Eugene.

Family History and Autobiography, obtained through Diane Wray Tomasso Arapahoe Acres Historic District Files, Sternberg, Eugene. What is City Planning. Daily Journal, December 21, Subdivision s First Home Open Sunday. Denver Post, March 9, Tomasso, Diane Wray, The Arapahoe Acres Historic District. Denver: Historic Denver, Inc. United States Census Bureau. Census of Housing, Historical Census of Housing Tables, Home Values. https://www.census.gov/hhes/ (accessed July 20, United States Census Bureau. Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: twps0027/tab18.txt (accessed July 24, Wikipedia. Englewood, Colorado: Demographics. Colorado (accessed July 22,

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS CO-15. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Lesanne Dominguez Weller, PLA Littleton, Colorado Pamela Cornelisse, PLA Wheat Ridge, Colorado With significant contribution from Diane Wray Tomasso who opened her archive of material regarding Arapahoe Acres and the designers, and provided invaluable insight and counsel. July 30, HALS Challenge Entry: Documenting National Register Listed Landscapes ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 12 Arapahoe Acres Figure Ground. (Drawn in Adobe Illustrator by Pamela Cornelisse, Data sources include GIS data from Arapahoe County, Google Earth imagery, Arapahoe Acres site plans and on-site visits). ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 13 Arapahoe Acres Contours.

Illustrates how using the original topography, Sternberg designed the roads and how both Sternberg and Hawkins sited the houses with the original topography. (Drawn in Adobe Illustrator by Pamela Cornelisse, Data sources include GIS data from Arapahoe County, Google Earth imagery, Arapahoe Acres site plans and on-site visits). ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 14 Arapahoe Acres and surrounding neighborhood. Illustrates how Sternberg abandoned the street grid of Englewood and the alleys. (Drawn in Adobe Illustrator by Pamela Cornelisse, Data sources include GIS data from Arapahoe County, Google Earth imagery, Arapahoe Acres site plans and on-site visits). ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 15 South Cornell Circle looking south.

The curvilinear roads were an integral part of Sternberg s site plan. Photographer: Lesanne Dominguez Weller, Date: May, Arapahoe Acres residence built into the existing topography. Photographer: Lesanne Dominguez Weller, Date: May, ARAPAHOE ACRES HALS NO. CO-15 PAGE 16 Arapahoe Acres site plan used existing topography to enhance the site design. Photographer: Lesanne Dominguez Weller, Date: May, Arapahoe Acres neighborhood sign, custom designed by Edward B. Hawkins. Photographer: Lesanne Dominguez Weller, Date: May,