Two Discussions about the City’s Housing Study, More about Golden Bricks

*Golden Eye Candy – Richard Luckin – Morning Walk – enlarge*

Virtual Events

6-6:55AM Cardio Lift Interval
8-8:55AM Tai Chi
8:30-9:30AM Virtual Power Training
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga
3-5PM Hard Times Writing Workshop

Real World Events

9AM Golden Walks – Wednesday Morning Celebrating Life @ Golden Library

11:30-12:45PM Community Development Committee @ Golden Visitors Center
The City’s Affordable Housing Policy Coordinator will lead a discussion about Golden’s housing needs. Golden currently has about 8,700 homes. The City is presently conducting a study on our housing needs. The draft study, which was presented to City Council on August 16th, says that Golden will need 3,100 more housing units within the next 10 years.

This meeting is intended to allow business owners to offer comments and ask questions about the study’s conclusions. It is open to the public. This is a hybrid event. You must register in advance to receive the link if you intend to participate via Zoom. It is also offered in person at the Golden Visitors Center. Please register in advance regardless of how you plan to attend. Learn more….

5:30PM Golden Women in Business Cocktail Party @ Goosetown Station

5:30-7:30PM Women’s Clothing Swap – Drop Off @ 1st Baptist Church (map)
Free clothing swap! Women’s clothing, maternity, shoes, bras, and accessories!

Step 1 (optional): Drop off new or gently used donations on Thurs/Fri evening: Sept 8th or 9th, 5:30-7:30PM

Step 2: Return Saturday morning to choose your free, “new” clothes: Sept 10th, 9:30AM-12PM

Invite your friends – the more the merrier! More information. Questions? Email goldenwomensclothingswap@gmail.com (All monetary donations will benefit MOPS of Golden.)

6:30PM Planning Commission Meeting @ City Hall
The Planning Commission will review a decision by the Planning Director to approve the demolition and replacement of a home at 19 Washington Avenue. The 6,775 sq. ft. lot will be subdivided into 3,431 and 3,344 sq. ft. lots. A new duplex will straddle the two lots.

*Duplexes that will replace 19 Washington Ave.*

The house next door (to the south, at 23 Washington Ave.) is also scheduled to be demolished and replaced. That project was discussed at the July 20th Planning Commission meeting.

The business meeting will be followed by a study session. They will discuss proposed changes to the city building code to ensure “net zero” construction for future buildings within the city. The goals are:

• To achieve 100% renewable energy for electricity by 2030 and 100% renewable for heating by 2050.
• To align Greenhouse Gas Emission reductions with the Paris Accord by 2050.
• To reduce consumption of electricity by 15% by 2030.
• To reduce consumption of natural gas by 15% by 2030.

*The Housing Report includes this map, which highlights some of the areas that could be redeveloped to add more housing – enlarge*

The City’s Affordable Housing Policy Coordinator will then review the Draft Housing Needs and Strategies Assessment. The study concludes that Golden needs 3,100 additional homes in the next ten years. To achieve that, it makes the following recommendations:

• Offer incentives to attract affordable housing projects
• Modify regulations to reduce the cost of affordable housing
• Encourage homeowners to add Accessory Dwelling Units
• Encourage shared equity homeownership programs or community land trusts
• Expedite the review and permitting process
• Form an affordable housing committee
• Add more senior housing services
• Encourage CSM to build more on-campus housing

The draft housing study is available online: https://goldenco.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=4560&meta_id=123206

7PM Trivia Night @ Trailhead Taphouse

Live Music

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

Golden History Moment

Tons of Bricks
A ton of bricks comes from about a ton of brick-clay, without which bricks would not exist. Humble brick-clay has been used for the last 10,000 years to build homes, monuments, and other remarkable buildings. Beginning 6000 years ago, it has been used to make pottery and, yes, sewer pipe, i.e., plumbing, essential for public health and welfare.

*Several brick manufacturers shown on the 1882 Birdseye View Map of Golden, CO – enlarge*

Bricks were a much-desired building material in a place where the native vegetation included no trees. Adding to a lack of timber, in April 1863, bricks became in very high demand due to a major Denver City fire, which led to a Denver ordinance requiring all new major buildings to be built of brick. It was then that Golden became the center of brickmaking in northeastern Colorado with its wide variety of local clay and coal to fire the brick kilns. Brickworks established after 1864 included the Golden City Pottery and Fire Brick Works²¹³ (1866 by WAH Loveland); Golden Pressed Brick (originally the Rocky Mountain Fire Brick and Tile Company, 1873); Chicago Pressed Bricks (1879); and the Cambria Tile and Brickworks (1879).

*Fig. 84. Brickyard superintendent’s house in north Golden, east of Catamount Street – enlarge*

The Golden Pressed Brick Company was by far the largest brickworks in the 1800s. Founded in 1873 by Jacob Koenig and Fritz Fischer as Rocky Mountain Fire Brick and Tile Company, it was located along the Colorado Central rail line at what is now 1122 8th Street, near today’s Lookout Landing Condos. In 1890 the company was acquired by John B. and William Church with co-investor G.W. Parfet, who renamed company as the Golden Pressed Brickworks. In 1893, they added a second site north of Golden Gate Canyon road between today’s Brickyard Road and Catamount Drive.

Fig. 83. The Golden Pressed Brick Company yard in north Golden circa 1940. View west to Mount Galbraith. Argall, (1949, Figure 9, p. 100 in the CSM Quarterly, v. 44, no. 2), used with permission. – enlarge

In January 1895, the 8th Street brickworks burned²¹⁴, and the Church brothers concentrated on their northern brickworks, the Golden Fire-Brick Company (Fig. 83), which was twice expanded and finally shut down in 1963. The Brickyard Superintendent’s House (Fig. 84) is one of the last remaining brickyard structures in Golden, located on the east side of Catamount Road in north Golden. It is owned by the City.

Golden’s brick legacy lives on all over Colorado. Golden bricks are in most buildings in Golden and Denver as well as across the State.

Tune in tomorrow for Brick Week – Part 3!

This was an excerpt from Golden Rocks: The Geology and Mining History of Golden, Colorado by Donna Anderson and Paul Haseman.

The authors have granted me permission to reprint excerpts, but I recommend that you read the whole book. You can buy a copy from the Lulu website, borrow one from the library (there’s a waiting list!), or read it online for free, courtesy of the School of Mines library.