Art Hunt and Astor House

*Golden Eye Candy – Chris Davell – See if you can find this tiny artwork near 11th and Washington! – enlarge*

Virtual Events

6-6:55AM Cardio Lift Interval
8-8:55AM Tai Chi
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga Virtual
11-11:55AM Find Your Balance
3-5PM Hard Times Writing Workshop
5-6PM Arte de mi Corazón

Real World Events

7:30-9AM Citizen Budget Advisory Committee Meeting @ City Hall
No agenda has been posted, so I’m not sure there will be a meeting.

9AM Golden Walks – Wednesday Morning Celebrating Life @ Golden Library
6PM Pong Night @ Coda Brewing

6:30PM Planning Commission Study Session @ City Hall
Planning Commission will go through some training tonight.

7PM Trivia Night @ Trailhead Taphouse

Live Music

6-9PM Whipkey @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
6:30PM Open Jam/Mic at Over Yonder Brewing

Golden History Moment

*Golden Daily Transcript* – June 14, 1972

This week marks 50 years since the citizens of Golden voted to save the Astor House. 654 Golden citizens voted to save it and 301 voted to demolish it.

*Downtown buildings destroyed after World War II: The South School, the Courthouse, the North School, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, and the Catholic Church – enlarge*

In the decades after World War II, Golden was on a “modernization” binge. By 1972, we had lost many of our Victorian-era buildings. Historic architecture wasn’t widely valued in that era, but modern conveniences were. The need for parking lots drove many of the demolitions. The town was spreading and residents were no longer walking distance to downtown, so they needed somewhere to park.

The downtown merchants were desperate to find space for parking lots, and the old boarding house seemed like a logical candidate for demolition. The space it occupied would have provided 8 new parking spaces.

Having lost so many buildings already, the prospect of losing one of the oldest buildings in town was the last straw for many citizens. They formed a new group called the Golden Landmarks Association (GLA). They persuaded City Council to give them some time to prove the value of the building. Volunteers peeled wallpaper, painted, made repairs, and shored up the foundation. They organized community events in the building and persuaded Golden’s voters of the value of preserving one of our oldest buildings. In the end, Council agreed to bring it to a vote, and Golden’s citizens voted to purchase and preserve the building.

Golden Landmarks Association volunteers, working on the Astor House 50 years ago – enlarge

The Golden Landmarks Association ran the Astor House as a museum for about 40 years. To learn more about this monumental grassroots effort, read Arlone Child’s book, Golden Landmarks Association, Inc. the First Twenty Years, 1972-1992.

Now the old building is ready for its next incarnation. Foothills Art Center has done some impressive fund raising (and they still need a bit more). They plan to preserve the old building and build a significant addition on the back. We will lose the wooden addition that was added to the back of the building in the late 1950s or early 1960s. It will be replaced with an elevator. We will lose the brick wash house in the back yard, but the bricks will be re-used or sold as a fund-raiser. We will lose a lovely tree in the back yard that was dedicated to the memory of Arlone Child (who wrote the book mentioned above), but Foothills will plant a new tree of the same species and dedicate it both Arlone Child and her husband Gene.

*The boulder and plaque placed in the backyard of the Astor House in 1976 will remain – enlarge*

Hassan Najjar, Executive Director of Foothills Art Center, asked me to add the following:

The rock and plaque commemorating Astor House as a territorial park will remain and the Yard will remain open to the public the majority of the time except for private FAC events
Foothills Art Center at Astor House will be majority gallery space that we anticipate opening to the public in August 2023.
Foothills Art Center Creative Campus will be the name of our existing home at 809 15th Street. This will contain 3 classrooms, a new ceramics studio, and over a dozen artists studio spaces. We anticipate opening early summer 2023.
Our capital campaign goal is $4.2 million. As of today we’ve raised $3,924,200. Ten donors giving at least 6-figures each account for $3.85 M of support. All funds received have been donations. There are no loans involved. We are counting on our community to raise the remaining $275k.
Participating in the campaign is easy, just visit our homepage at www.foothillsartcenter.org to see our vision for Foothills Art Center including ways to contribute to the campaign.

Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!