Colfax Avenue
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Colfax Avenue is the main street that runs east and west through the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area in Colorado. As U.S. Highway 40, it was one of two principal highways serving Denver before the Interstate Highway System was constructed. In the local street system, it lies 15 blocks north of the zero meridian, and thus would otherwise be known as "15th Avenue". However, the street was named for the 19th-century politician Schuyler Colfax. On the east it passes through the cities of Aurora, then Denver, and on the west, through Lakewood. Colfax Avenue cuts through Original Aurora, the city's historic core, and skirts the southern edge of downtown Denver. Because of the dense, mixed-use character of the development along Colfax Avenue, the Regional Transportation District bus route 15 - East Colfax has the highest ridership in the RTD system. In 2006, the first Colorado Colfax Marathon was held, traversing the length of Colfax Avenue through the three cities.
Colloquially, the arterial is referred to simply as "Colfax", a name that has become associated with prostitution and crime. Playboy Magazine once called Colfax "the longest, wickedest street in America." However, such activities are actually isolated to short stretches of the 26-mile length of the street. Recently, Colfax has been undergoing redevelopment that has brought in new housing, trendy businesses and restaurants. Some say that these new developments are detracting from the character of Colfax, while others worry that they will cause gentrification and bring increased traffic to the area. [1]
[edit] History
To understand where East Colfax is today, one must look back more than 100 years to the beginnings of Denver and its main thoroughfare. Colfax Avenue became the major route into town from the east, and was the address to have for the wealthy and elite class. East Colfax was lined with trees and wide promenades, a beautiful boulevard on the outskirts of town where the Denverites who had made their fortunes could build grandiose mansions.
The slow and steady downfall began after the Panic of 1893. The once lavish and expensive homes along East Colfax and in Capitol Hill were no longer easy to maintain and pay for. Many owners of the single-family mansions were forced to rent out rooms in their homes to temporary workers and those with lesser income. In addition, the housing market no longer supported huge mansions on a large lot. As the economy of Denver slumped after the Silver Crash, construction in Capitol Hill concentrated on apartments. Three buildings still in existence and that are examples of the architecture of this time are The Colonnade, Alta Court, and the Hamilton. This cultural and demographic shift, from single-family mansions toward boarding houses and rental property for the transient middle class, marked the first significant watershed moment in the history of East Colfax.
East Colfax and Capitol Hill, Denver remained a solid middle class neighborhood until the next demographic change occurred. After World War II, the mentality of many urban dwellers shifted. Mortgage lenders preferred new construction and there was a massive “white flight” to the suburbs. Families and the established middle class left Capitol Hill in a mass Diaspora, selling off the family home to a developer interested in putting up a high-rise in its place or leaving the home abandoned. The demographics of people left behind were an underclass of transients and renters.
Also, the zoning along East Colfax has been badly planned for 50 years. In the 1950s East Colfax was rezoned B4, and the planners encouraged separation of uses and dependence on the automobile. Property owners along East Colfax found it much more rewarding to tear down an existing historic building and put up a new building in its place, rather than renovating. Planners and building officials encouraged this, for this was a time when old was considered ugly and new buildings meant progress.
In addition the zoning code from the 1950s, a 2:1 Floor Area Ratio was adopted for East Colfax. Otherwise known as “FAR”s, these ratios determine the square footage of the building in relation to the lot size. Builders in the 1950s who tore down historic buildings along East Colfax for the purpose of developing a brand new property were required to abide by the car-friendly codes and provide for automobile use.
As the feasibility study, “East Colfax Avenue: An Opportunity and a Model for Development Action” claims about the streetscape of East Colfax, “[East Colfax is designed to] encourage development of smaller parcels that lack frontage definition, have unevenly deep setback patterns and leave a large quantity of undeveloped space”. This FAR ratio almost single-handedly contributed to the architectural demise of East Colfax.
Phil Goodstein, a Denver historian, analyzes the effect of the FAR ratio in his book, The Ghosts of Denver: Capitol Hill. “Now the businesses were set back from the sidewalk with a parking lot between the store and the street. Every block, it seemed, became a parking lot while customers found it necessary to drive from one store to the next. Pedestrians had to dodge cars in the middle of the block...In light of this unpleasant walking atmosphere and Denver’s increasing addiction to the automobile, the number of people on the street declined. With this, the neighborhood became less safe”. It was a steady downward spiral with many factors leading to what East Colfax is today, including the lack of interest in historic buildings and the myopic visions of the 1950s planners.
Another monumental watershed moment in the history of East Colfax Avenue was the completion of I-70. No longer did incoming tourists drive down the thoroughfare on their way into downtown. The tourist dollar was effectively wiped out as a revenue source for East Colfax after this decade. So began another downward spiral. With no tourists to spend money along East Colfax the businesses suffered, as did the demand to go to Capitol Hill.
A factor in the increase in urban poor along Colfax has been linked to Denver Urban Renewal Authority's plans for “urban renewal” in Downtown Denver. In the now-discredited belief that tearing down historic buildings and replacing them with Modern Architecture and high-rises would benefit cities, DURA bulldozed the bulk of Larimer Street in downtown. The urban poor that had been housed in Larimer Street's Single Room Occupancy buildings were now displaced to Colfax.
Since grand Victorian mansions could be purchased for next to nothing, the state bought them up to house the recently freed mentally ill. The 1960s were a time of great social upheaval and civil rights activism. The functional, yet mentally ill, who were once forced to remain locked up were now de-institutionalized and living in the rundown mansions on Capitol Hill. The mentally ill wandered East Colfax in droves, creating an atmosphere that only solidified the public’s perception of East Colfax as a dangerous place.
[edit] Colfax Today
In attempts at clean up, Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods (CHUN) asked the property owners along East Colfax between Pearl and Sherman if they could apply for a local Historic District status for the connected blocks. The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, which houses the Archdiocese of Denver is on the corner of Colfax and Logan Street and is one of the buildings that would be involved in this designation. According to spokespeople at CHUN, local property owners, perhaps fearing the restrictions that Local Historic District designation might place on them, chose not to pursue Historic District status.
All of these factors created a climate for depressed real estate values, and weak infrastructure. The downfall of East Colfax was a slow and steady downward spiral of neglect, perception and poor governmental choices. Fortunately, in the past few years, East Colfax has been given a new lease on life and is starting to show signs of revitalization. Preservationists and developers have renovated sections of the street from Downing to Park Avenue.
Today, some feel that there is a “conspiracy theory” of sorts about East Colfax. Although there never is any proof, one could make assumptions about the validity of the theories. Some believe that the government has let East Colfax become run down and refused to help in the clean up and redevelopment on purpose. The purpose behind this may be a “containment zone” of sorts, to keep the underclass in a well-defined area and out of the more expensive neighborhoods. It would provide for a well-defined slum, to which the criminals and the underclass would be attracted, to keep them all in one place. There will always be the criminal element and run down areas of town, if not East Colfax, where else? Until recently, the political districts and police districts around East Colfax have always been poorly defined, allowing for weak political leadership and rampant crime, so there could be some credibility to this theory.
East Colfax is coming around. Blueprint Denver has been a great driving force toward the clean up of East Colfax. Blueprint Denver is the growth plan for the 21st century and addresses zoning changes along East Colfax for more mixed-use, high density, pedestrian friendly development and renovation, while at the same addressing transportation issues for the Avenue. The planning and zoning issues that have plagued East Colfax for decades will be addressed and rewritten in an attempt to streamline the process for better urban design in the Capitol Hill business district.
Denver has made serious levels of commitment to the improvement of East Colfax.
