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LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
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PROPOSED PLANS FOR 
 THE IMPROVEMENT of 
 THE CITY OF DENVE 
 
 CHARLES MULFORD ROBINSON 
 
 ART COMMISSION 
 
 CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER 
 
 JANUARY, 1906 
 
Proposed Plans for 
 the Improvement of 
 ( Tne City of Denver 
 
 164292 
 
To the Mayor,, the City Council., and the Members of the Art Com- 
 mission of the City and County of Denver : 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 In accordance with the request lately extended to me, I have 
 made an examination of the City and County of Denver, with a view 
 to recommending such changes as seem to me important, in order that 
 Denver may more fully realize its opportunities for civic beauty. With 
 the glory of its panorama of mountains, this city should not be content 
 to be merely "The Queen City of the Plains." With its superb site, 
 with the push, enterprise, courage and liberality that has come to be 
 considered characteristic of its citizens, Denver has easily in its grasp 
 a higher destiny. It can so assure its future that it may now take, and 
 expect to hold a place in the front rank of the world's noble cities. 
 That it will do this, I cannot doubt, and I am proud to have had this 
 opportunity to connect my name with its development. 
 
 The Charter's provision for an Art Commission is one of the 
 evidences that there is the right sort of aspiration here; the Com- 
 mission's wish to secure a scheme of artistic development for the 
 city to work toward, is evidence of the practical nature of its desire, 
 and in no other city have I ever found such complete unanimity of 
 sentiment among all classes of citizens rich and poor alike as I 
 have found here in the purpose to make Denver beautiful, in loyalty 
 to the city's interests, in wish to do something really worth while. 
 That this has been an inspiration, doubling my interest in the work, 
 I do not need to say. 
 
 In. planning for the development of a city's attractiveness and 
 beauty, it is most desirable to maintain its individuality so far as 
 this is of a worthy type and to emphasize the expression of its spe- 
 
 2 
 
cial purpose, if this be interesting and sufficiently characteristic. 
 Now Denver, whatever its incidental and particular claims, is notable, 
 (1) for its union of delightful climate and superb mountain views, 
 and (2) because it is the capital seat of Colorado. As to the first 
 point, the climate is not affected by the city's growth, except as smoke 
 may dull the brilliant sunshine, or as the use of water, in artificial 
 irrigation may lessen the climate's danger to vegetation ; while serious 
 consideration for natural scenery, important as this asset of the city 
 is, can scarcely be expected in urban growth except in the public 
 reservations in the choice and landscape treatment, that is, of the 
 park areas that are especially set aside to safeguard and heighten the 
 city's beauty. But upon the significance of the municipality as the 
 capital of the state, we have a right to expect all the emphasis that 
 street plan and artistic development can place. Whatever else Den- 
 ver may be, it is the capital of Colorado, and it is under an obligation 
 to the State and to itself proudly to proclaim that fact and in all its 
 development to assert it. 
 
 The site of the State House, considered simply by itself, is very 
 fine. It is central, commanding in its relative height, and affords a 
 noble view of the mountains a view, by the way, that city or state 
 should take measures to protect. The erection of a building of even 
 four or five stories on the west side of Broadway, opposite the Cap- 
 itol grounds, would cut the view from the terrace on which the State 
 House stands. I am inclined to think that a building ordinance, re- 
 stricting the height of structures erected on that property, with allow- 
 ance to the property owners for damages for such restriction, would 
 be the cheapest and yet an effective method of safeguarding the view. 
 Such an ordinance, enacted by the city of Boston for the buildings 
 surrounding Copley Square, in order that the Public Library and 
 Trinity Church might not be dwarfed by skyscrapers, has lately been 
 sustained by the highest court of the State. If the city would agree 
 to enact such an ordinance, I think the State, as the directly benefited 
 party, might well afford to pay the damages. 
 
 Returning to consideration of the Capitol site, I find it, with 
 
 3 
 
all its inherent advantages, very defective in that it is totally out of 
 relation with that portion of the Denver street plan with which it 
 properly ought to harmonize. Both site and building are at an angle 
 with the Congressional Grant on which the business part of Denver 
 may be considered as permanently located, and which comes directly 
 to the border of the grounds. In fact, the problem presented at this 
 point, which should be made the nucleus of any improvement scheme, 
 is very difficult, for not only is the Capitol out of relation now with 
 the part of the city with which it most needs intimate connection, 
 but not one of the adjacent public buildings harmonizes in position 
 with its neighbors. Capitol, Court House, and proposed Library 
 face each a different way and stand at a different angle. To work 
 these into a single comprehensive scheme, seemed at first a discour- 
 aging task, but the great desirability of such a result for the im- 
 provement of the city was a strong incentive, and the generally poor 
 character of the intermediate private construction gave an oppor- 
 tunity for more radical changes than one might, have anticipated in 
 so central an area that had been neglected until so late. 
 
 The plan that I have worked out, and for which I urge your fa- 
 vorable consideration with all the strength I possess and with appeal 
 to your love of Denver, your pride and faith in the city, and your 
 interest in its future, is as follows: 
 
 Extend Sixteenth Street to the Capitol Grounds, so restoring to 
 that important business thoroughfare the State House vista of which 
 it has now been partly robbed and which the erection of a high build- 
 ing would entirely take away. Purchase the land lying between 
 Fifteenth and Sixteenth Streets and Court and Cheyenne Places, 
 not quite two full" blocks, and, most fortunately, but little improved. 
 This will open the vista between Court House and State House. On 
 the edges of this tract, Sixteenth and Fifteenth Streets should be con- 
 tinued as thoroughfares, paved and lighted as in their lower sections. 
 At the inner building line, all structures having been removed on 
 the reserved area, there should be planted a row of trees, so maintain- 
 ing the entity of each street and pleasantly shading the walk on each 
 
 4 
 
street's inner side. In extending Sixteenth Street across the vacant 
 lot east of Broadway, there would be left a triangle at the junction of 
 Broadway and Coif ax. This also should be purchased, thus com- 
 pleting on this side an open parallelogram from the State House 
 grounds to the Court House. On each side of the whole reserved 
 strip, a second row of trees should then be planted, parallel with the 
 street line rows, but placed so far inward as to extend the end lines 
 of the Court House building. This will apparently narrow the re- 
 served strip, and will serve as a definite connection between State 
 House and Court House. 
 
 The development of this inner strip demands a treatment that 
 shall be not merely attractive, but distinctive, and because of its 
 architectural significance, definitely formal in character. I there- 
 fore recommend that in the triangle at the northeast corner of Broad- 
 way, bounded by Broadway, Colfax and the extended Sixteenth Street, 
 there be placed a circular basin, in the middle of which a jet of water 
 shall rise into the air. The pressure at this point will provide, if 
 desired, a jet of some seventy feet, making one of the simplest but most 
 effective of fountains, its slim height appropriate to its function in 
 emphasizing the axis of the parallelogram, while the splash of its 
 water and the kiss of its spray will be a cool, refreshing and charm- 
 ing feature in the long summer months. The water thus constantly 
 freshened in the basin should then, I suggest, be carried under Broad- 
 way by pipe, to serve the public again in an oblong basin extending 
 nearly from Broadway to the Court House. This basin should be of 
 concrete. The water need not be over twelve or eighteen inches in 
 depth, and in my design I have suggested a slight irregularity at the 
 middle of the basin's side lines, so that in a curving, balustraded pro- 
 jection on either side, there may be offered a vantage point whence 
 the play of light and shadow, the reflection of the great buildings, or 
 the frolic of wind ripples in the water, may be enjoyed. 
 
 The whole would be a landscape development novel in Denver, 
 wholly appropriate to the purpose, and no more expensive to main- 
 tain than would be a strip of greensward. Even in the winter, it 
 
 5 
 
might be continued by turning steam into the basin from the Court 
 House or other adjacent building. 
 
 For the lighting of this bit of public garden, I have suggested 
 two lights on each side of the basin, at the point where the projection 
 comes. These, with the regular lights of the streets bordering the 
 plat, and two ornamental lights before the entrance to the Court 
 House, would be sufficient; for the ideal in the illumination of this 
 area should be not brilliancy, but such shadow and mystery as may 
 be ventured without endangering safety and morality. 
 
 But far more important than the charm of these details would 
 be the scheme's general effect, and I urge each one of you, or any 
 hesitating citizen of Denver, to stand on the Capitol terrace and look 
 but over the ground that it is proposed to take. Imagine the low 
 buildings now littering this area removed, and, in their place, an 
 open esplanade revealing the Court House, and bringing not it alone, 
 but the whole down town street plan, into harmonious relation with 
 the Capitol. This would be something worth while, and a result 
 worthy of the greater Denver. 
 
 And if the time should come when the City Hall, architecturally 
 unfitted to the present city, and somewhat inconveniently located, 
 is to be replaced by a better structure, and combined, as doubtless it 
 then would be, with a new Court House, you would have the posi- 
 tion ready for it at the end of the esplanade, where the present County 
 building stands. You would be able to raise here a noble building, 
 adding its quota to the effect. 
 
 Yet even this is not quite all the plan. Work is shortly to begin 
 on the erection of a very beautiful building lor the Public Library. 
 The selected site, though hardly a stone's throw from this improve- 
 ment scheme, and within a short block of the Capitol Park, is on the 
 side of a street, so wanting in opportunity for perspective and so in- 
 different to the neighboring public structures, that very mediocre 
 little buildings would soon completely hide from view its beautiful 
 facade. By securing the small triangle opposite the Library site 
 that is, the area bounded by Colfax, Cleveland Place, and Fifteenth 
 
 6 
 
Street the library front will be revealed, and there will be a two- 
 fold gain: (1) In an enhancement of the attractiveness of the park- 
 way through bringing into its scope this handsome structure, and 
 (2) of the Library itself by vastly increasing its effectiveness through 
 creating an opportunity to enjoy it. I would then urge that the 
 portion of a block between the east end of the Library and Broadway, 
 be added to the city's holdings and laid out with turf and trees, that 
 these new and handsome public buildings may have their proper set- 
 ting, and may take their place in this improvement that will affect 
 so stunning a change in the heart of Denver. 
 
 A plot of ground remains between Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
 Streets, extending to Cleveland Place, the development of which 
 must strongly influence the aspect of the whole improvement. Be- 
 cause it is thus vitally important, I want the new Chamber of Com- 
 merce and Auditorium, if they be combined in a single building, or 
 the Auditorium alone if the union is not effected, placed here. We 
 may then be sure that a building erected with regard for the artistic 
 interests of the city, and a Public Building, would occupy this very 
 important site. That is fairly the people's due. By the closing, if 
 necessary, of this part of Court Place, the plat could be made of any 
 area desired, while the location is central, convenient in tramway 
 facilities, exceptionally free from fire danger because of the open 
 spaces around it, and these spaces would further facilitate the dis- 
 tribution of the issuing crowd to the avoidance of a congestion of 
 traffic. 
 
 Note. It has since become evident that the foregoing provision of 
 a site for the Auditorium, indicated by shading in the accompanying 
 diagram, will not be required for that purpose. (Art Commission.) 
 
 On the Sixteenth Street side of the improvement, in the square 
 opposite the Court House, there would be a convenient site for the 
 proposed new Post Office. Another satisfactory site, if there were 
 a willingness to cross Broadway, would be the south portion of the 
 Sixteenth Street block between Broadway and Lincoln. As the mat- 
 ter of the new Post Office at this writing is somewhat in the air, the 
 
 7 
 
thing that counts is simply that the plan offers several convenient 
 sites that would bring the Federal Building into the group scheme. 
 
 One other detail remains to be noted. A large sum has been 
 raised for the Pioneers' Monument, and it is proposed that it shall 
 be a beautiful and worthy work. I suggest, for the heightening of 
 its effectiveness and to bring it into harmony with the scheme, that 
 it be placed a little west of the site of the present fire house, which 
 is not on the axis of anything, and be so situated as to center on the 
 Library, the Auditorium, and the Park scheme. It would then be 
 one of the most striking features of the complete plan. Of course, 
 the fire house, which stands on what is already city property, would 
 come down, and its little space be incorporated in the general plan. 
 
 I append, as a part of my report, a diagram of the scheme. The 
 immense gain that such a scheme would mean to Denver scarcely 
 needs exposition. Very few cities in the country would have its like ; 
 and in none, perhaps, is it possible to gain so great a result so easily. 
 Around this area would gather high class hotels and apartment 
 houses; and if the wide break forced the extension of the business 
 district to the northward, there yet would be compensations to the 
 property adjacent on south and east in the value that it would gain 
 through the increased attractiveness of the broad space. I cannot 
 doubt that the improvement would quickly pay for itself, as far as 
 the city is concerned, in the increased assessable value of property 
 nearby, for one of the most remarkable features of the plan is that 
 at this time it necessitates the acquisition of no costly building. There 
 would be little more than the land to pay for, and of that, a third at 
 least, I judge, is already public property in street areas, etc. 
 
 From what I can learn, it seems probable that two million dol- 
 lars, or very little more, would pay for the whole scheme, if carried 
 out at once. This does not include the Auditorium site, since that 
 is to be purchased anyway. For this outlay of two millions cer- 
 tainly no staggering sum for Denver there would be received what 
 ten millions would not buy a few years hence, and you would get back 
 not only, in a short time doubtless, the whole sum expended, but a 
 
 s 
 
satisfaction, enjoyment, and pride in this better Denver, that to all 
 the citizens would be at once worth many times the little cost per 
 capita. It is worth while to pay a tax for which one gets imme- 
 diately so visible a quid pro quo. And that there is no time to lose, 
 you know even better than I. It is sheer good luck that the Majestic 
 Building happens to be on the side of the street it is, instead of on 
 the other, where it would have blocked the plan; or that a building 
 like the Brown Hotel is not where the Plymouth is; or that the old 
 fire-gutted theater has not yet been replaced by a costly structure that 
 would have made the plan discouragingly expensive. If you do not 
 carry it out now, you never will. 
 
 I ask you to consider for a moment what other cities are doing, 
 that you may realize the need of courage and loyal public spirit if 
 Denver is not to be left behind. The Cleveland "group plan" now 
 well under way, involves the acquisition of several acres of land, the 
 mere purchase and improvement of which comes to $3,374,780. In 
 addition to this, however, it includes as a necessary feature the con- 
 struction of public and semi-public buildings, such as a City Hall, 
 a Court House, a Public Library, a new Station and a Post Office at 
 a cost estimated as upwards of thirteen millions additional for the 
 buildings alone. In St. Louis it is proposed to open a parkway the 
 width of the block from Thirteenth to Fourteenth Street, and extend- 
 ing in length the several blocks from Olive Street to Clark Avenue, 
 in order that the City Hall may face it with the new Four Courts 
 opposite, and at one end the Public Library. I cannot name the fig- 
 ures, but certainly the land must cost more than is needed here. And 
 in St. Paul,, where there has been lately built a beautiful new State 
 Capitol, a plan has been devised to open a vista of it from the busi- 
 ness district, and to bring it into relation with the street plat of the 
 city, by the construction of a broad avenue down to the Seven Cor- 
 ners, of an avenue and viaduct at an angle such as is offered here, 
 and of a parkway four hundred feet wide, and at a similar angle ex- 
 tending to the old Capitol. The land alone for this will cost a full 
 $2,000,000, and it involves also very heavy expense for construction. 
 
 9 
 
10 
 
I believe that Denver will not let St. Paul outdo it, especially as 
 your city has one of the smallest public debts of any city in the 
 country. 
 
 You have another thing, however, more necessary than money, 
 because it is the source of money. You have the courage, and the 
 enterprise, and the aspiration the Denver spirit. This will do the 
 work. This alone is needed; and if the citizens will show it now, 
 that Denver spirit will write itself on the city map, so that none who 
 come after can fail to see it. 
 
 As a second division of my report, I want to make some sug- 
 gestions regarding the parks and bouleyards. I shall not go into this 
 subject with great thoroughness, but in discussing the possibilities 
 for enhancing the city's beauty, it would not do to ignore entirely 
 the claims of these usually the most prominent aesthetic assets 
 of a city. 
 
 The parks of Denver may be divided into three general classes: 
 City Park, the people's pleasure ground; Congress and Washington 
 Parks, and Berkeley, Rocky Mountain and Sloan's Lakes, the scenic 
 parks; and the little parks or squares. 
 
 In City Park, with all its undoubted popularity, I find a good 
 deal to criticize. I recognize the difficulties under which a park of 
 this character must be developed here, but the shortcomings are not 
 all due to inadequate rainfall. The trees, for instance, are too thickly 
 planted. They not only give an unpleasantly crowded appearance, 
 but I believe that many of them have insufficient room, even in your 
 climate, to develop. Often, too, they are planted too close to the 
 road a mistake sometimes repeated in your streets. Instead of bal- 
 ancing on the very edge of the greensward, they would look better 
 and would grow better with a foot or two of grass between tree and 
 curb line. 1 should like to believe that the City Park roads could 
 be safely narrowed by enough to permit this, for that park seems 
 to run to road a great deal. Good park design considers walk and 
 road a necessary evil, to be made as inconspicuous as may be, and 
 not exaggerated. The lake shore development in front of the Casino 
 
 11 
 
is capable of improvement, by an architectural treatment that would 
 be more dignified. The casual has no place there. The animals will 
 be removed, I hope, to the new north tract, and the place they now 
 occupy added to the park proper. The Burns statue, to which a still 
 greater emphasis will be given if the suggested entrance is secured 
 from Colfax Avenue, is now surrounded by a carpet bedding, that in 
 my opinion belongs to the period of iron stags on lawns, and patent 
 rockers and plush albums. There are towns where one would expect 
 that, but Denver is above it. The terrifying cannons that surround 
 this spot, guarding every way of approach, are inappropriate in a 
 sylvan park and as a foreground to the memorial of Scotland's far- 
 mer poet. Get them away from there whatever else you do. Some 
 of the little triangles at street intersections would harbor them bet- 
 ter. They are only a jarring note where children play and people 
 come for rest and enjoyment of the beautiful. 
 
 In regard to the entrance to City Park from Colfax Avenue, this 
 will be so much a portion of the park, that I speak of it here, al- 
 though I shall take up other park connections later. Such an en- 
 trance, handsomely developed, is very much to be desired, and I have 
 had an opportunity to put on paper for the Land Board, a design 
 suggesting my impressions. In only finding fault with City Park, I 
 would not have you think that my opinion of it is all bad. There is 
 much in it to admire; but I was not brought here to praise. 
 
 Turning now to the scenic parks, they offer views so grand that 
 Denver has nothing to fear from any other city in the country- 
 views so noble that there is very little need of landscape work. One 
 does not want to look around, but off to the mountains, and the best 
 that could be done with flowers and shrubs and little grades, would 
 seem paltry and small beside two hundred miles of snow-topped 
 peaks. Little money, therefore, need be expended on construction 
 in the three new lake parks on the North Side. Some roads, paths, 
 and seats to make the views available, and provision for the com- 
 fort and convenience of those who come to enjoy the scenery having 
 been arranged, strictly landscape work may wait a little. Congress 
 
 12 
 
Park, already surrounded by the gardens and lawns of fine residences, 
 needs more care. It is receiving this with admirable taste, and my 
 one word of caution here would be regarding the planting of trees 
 and the building of a shelter. The latter must be designed with the 
 greatest care and given no conspicuousness, and of trees there is 
 need to be very chary. The suggestion that I would make, and 
 urge, for Congress Park is a better name for it. Call it something 
 that will tell the stranger to go there for superb mountain views. A 
 happy thought was the selection of Washington Park as a site for 
 public golf links, considering the view it offers and the character of 
 the adjacent population. It will be well to encourage here healthful 
 outdoor exercise with the inspiring mountain ranges so plainly vis- 
 ible. With the park areas already secured, and those of which the 
 purchase has been decided upon, Denver will be pretty well provided 
 with large parks. I have no additions to suggest, unless it be one 
 to the extreme east, to care for the growing population in that di- 
 rection as Washington Park does in the south. 
 
 In regard to the small parks or squares, there is a widespread 
 demand for more of them. My recommendation, however, is the in- 
 crease of the utility of those you already have, and the utilization of 
 many of the little triangles and waste spaces at the intersection of 
 irregularly platted streets. These are to be found in considerable 
 numbers just where they will do most good. They can be developed 
 at a very small part of the expense that squares would demand, and 
 they would turn to good account what is now waste ground, instead 
 of withdrawing building lots from the market. The block parks, on 
 the other hand, while pleasant to the eyes of those who live directly 
 around them, or who happen to pass them, have no essential connec- 
 tion with the city plan and must always appear more or less acci- 
 dental and haphazard. 
 
 As to the development to be given to the small parks, there is 
 a distinct need in Denver of real play grounds. The idea that a 
 vacant lot, even after the name "park" has been attached to it, is 
 playground enough, is not in line with modern ideas. With you, such 
 
 13 
 
provision is rendered further inadequate by the fact that if it is un- 
 planted, it is a field of dust; while if sown to grass, it must be so 
 constantly watered during the summer that it will be nearly all the 
 time too wet for play. To make real paygrounds out of block parks, 
 when such use is demanded by their environment, you should have 
 some sand piles and a wading pool for the little children, simple out- 
 door gymnastic apparatus, and a shelter building that would contain 
 a public comfort station. In all of these small parks, I would recom- 
 mend, too, a freer use of shrubbery. I doubt if these changes would 
 add a single cent to your maintenance charges, while the little they 
 would cost as an "improvement" would be amply justified by the 
 larger utility secured. 
 
 The development of the waste spaces and triangles formed by 
 the intersection of irregular street plattings is no difficult matter, and 
 will do much to add to the city's beauty. They are of varying size 
 and various possibilities. These are the most fitting sites for civic 
 sculpture, of which it must never be forgotten quantity is a far 
 less desirable attribute than quality. In this regard, I have no doubt 
 the Art Commission will be Denver's invaluable defender. Other of 
 these spaces may be neatly curbed with concrete some of them to 
 become isles of safety, bearing a lighting standard and raised to 
 make a platform a few inches above the pavement. With the growth 
 of traffic, the need of these will be felt increasingly. Others, of larger 
 area, may be planted with low, native shrubs and evergreens, at no 
 large cost either for improvement or for maintenance, and to the 
 great betterment of the aspect of the street. 
 
 I wish before leaving the subject of the parks, to express a hope 
 that the water company may be persuaded to screen with poplars 
 the tank on the bluff south of the Country Club, and then to construct 
 a public drive and walk to the summit of the knoll a most attrac- 
 tive outlook that, with the street development of the surrounding 
 tract, would surely become a favorite spot from which to view moun- 
 tains and city, watch the sunset, and get the summer breezes. 
 
 I come now to boulevards and park connections. The most im- 
 
 14 
 
portant improvement of this kind, at the moment, is the Cherry 
 Creek boulevard. This is a greatly needed and admirable improve- 
 ment that at first, until it is given suitable connection at either end, 
 will do more for the whole district south of it by the correction 
 of an eyesore than by its own attraction for driving. Between the 
 road and the stream, or the stream's bed, there should be a liberal 
 planting of shrubbery, in which native hardy stock may be freely 
 used. If through this planting, or at the edge of the road, it is pos- 
 sible to carry a current of water, this will prove a pleasant feature 
 in the landscape development and a great practical assistance in ir- 
 rigation. The mile of Cherry Creek boulevard, which it is proposed 
 to construct at first, will be too isolated to form a strong attraction 
 in itself until properly connected. These connections should extend, 
 on the one end to the Fourteenth Street Viaduct, and on the other to 
 at least the grounds of the Country Club, and the extensions ought 
 to be added as quickly as possible. Cherry Creek would then form 
 a link in that boulevard system which Denver must steadily work 
 toward, as the opening of new thoroughfares and the development of 
 new territory makes it possible. 
 
 Beginning at the City Hall, there should be a continuous park- 
 drive, by Cherry Creek, to the Country Club; thence, by the Country 
 Club street platting, to High Street, to Congress Park, and then to 
 City Park. From City Park, the Mountview Boulevard, stretching 
 straight away eastward, should have proper development by means 
 of parking, and to that end it may be put under the control of the 
 Park Commission as all the strictly park connecting boulevards 
 ought to be, since they are essential features of a park system. If 
 another park is reserved further out on the east side, as I have sug- 
 gested and the growing population seems to require, Mountview 
 should be one of the links connecting it with City Park, and so in- 
 corporate it in the system. This does not mean, of course, that the 
 new park would have to be located directly on Mountview; and the 
 other streets to be taken and boulevarded, in order to make a cir- 
 cular drive, will depend on where it is located. But in all this new 
 
 15 
 
region, the city ought to get strips that are certainly no less than 
 one hundred feet wide, for its boulevard purposes; and it is to be 
 remembered that this part of the city is likely always to have the 
 major part of the driving. 
 
 In the other direction from City Park, Park Avenue, now ter- 
 minating in a cul de sac, should be opened to Colfax, and of the fur- 
 ther connections of this street I shall speak in the next division of 
 my Eeport. 
 
 South from the Cherry Creek Boulevard, there should be a boule- 
 vard to Washington Park, following High, or York, or University 
 Avenue, and so leading down to University Park. The exact street 
 to be used here may be determined by local conditions, so long as it 
 is on the ridge commanding the view of the mountains. Returning 
 (this whole drive forming an extra loop), use may be made of Logan 
 Avenue. This is 120 feet wide south of Bayaud and should have re- 
 stored to it the forty feet of center parking that is said to have been 
 in the original deed of dedication. 
 
 On the North side, the Fourteenth Street Viaduct leads by way 
 of Lake Place directly to Boulevard F, which is one of the most im- 
 portant park connections of the city, stretching straight to the north, 
 and passing Highland Park. This leads to Rocky Mountain Lake 
 Park. Then skirting the lake, with its noble views, one may con- 
 tinue west to Berkeley Lake, or south on Lowell Boulevard to con- 
 nect with Sloan's Lake. Both West Forty-sixth and West Forty- 
 ninth Avenues should be utilized for the connecting links between 
 Berkeley and Rocky Mountain Parks, in order that a circular drive 
 may here be possible. Similarly, at Sloan's Lake some streets, such 
 as Tennyson and West Twenty-sixth Avenue, should be made use of, 
 in order that entering the Park by Lowell Boulevard, it will not be 
 necessary to retrace one's steps in leaving it. The incomplete de- 
 velopment of all this area makes easy the creation of these and other 
 circular and connecting drives, so that crossing the Fourteenth Street 
 Viaduct one may be able to visit and circle the three great scenic 
 parks of this side, touch two of the smaller parks, and return again 
 
 16 
 
to the viaduct without leaving the boulevard, or repeating one's 
 course. 
 
 Now as to boulevard treatment. I was surprised to find that in 
 spite of its designation as a boulevard, car tracks were on Lowell. If 
 they are to remain there (and in boulevarding West Forty-sixth 
 Avenue/ which also has tracks) the tramway line should be put at the 
 side of the road already amply wide for the purpose and as far as 
 possible divided from it and planted out, in order that driving may not 
 be interfered with, and that the boulevard may be beautified. Gar- 
 dening improvement of the drives is an easy matter, with the use 
 of conifers and shrubs, but the detailing of plans would make a Report 
 in itself. The purpose of this record is served in pointing out the 
 readiness with which good boulevard connections can be established 
 and a park system created out of what now are wholly separated 
 park units. Trees ought, of course, to be planted on the selected 
 streets, as early as possible, in order that they may have a good start. 
 Otherwise, there seems no pressing need of haste beyond that invited 
 by the citizens' own eagerness to enjoy the facilities that such a sys- 
 tem would offer. 
 
 I have only to add that the proposed extensions and connections 
 do not mean large expenditure. The streets are already there; only 
 now and then is there need of widening for even a little distance, 
 and while a very elaborate scheme for broad parkways could be 
 worked out, my judgment is that the work I have proposed in the 
 center of the city is at present much more urgent, and for the ex- 
 penditure will give better immediate results. Denver, in time, will 
 want the ornamental parkways, and perhaps is ready now for boule- 
 vards; but the areas through which these naturally pass are still 
 only sparsely settled. The one exception to that rule is the short 
 space between Congress and City Parks, and here any elaborate plan 
 must wait the decision of the Land Board concerning the proposed 
 entrance to City Park from Colfax Avenue. 
 
 Other street changes form the subject of the third division of 
 my report. These are easy to propose, but difficult and costly to 
 
 17 
 
carry out; and a vague dread that "city beautifying" means some 
 big plan for cutting great avenues through built-up districts, lies 
 at the root of such notion as still occasionally persists that proposi- 
 tions of the kind are visionary. There are two questions that should 
 always be asked regarding radical city improvements. First, are 
 they a good thing in themselves; second, are they worth what they 
 would cost. 
 
 Now, the Denver plan is weak in through, arterial, diagonal thor- 
 oughfares, but I am not going to propose the creation of any. I 
 would like, however, to see a diagonal parkway extended the space 
 of the dozen blocks from the southeast portion of the Capitol grounds 
 to Congress Park, opening the new cathedral on its way. It would 
 bring the Park System down town, and it would make a noble ex- 
 tension of the central improvement scheme, but the question whether 
 it would pay is one for your real estate interests to consider. I be- 
 lieve that it probably would pay. 
 
 The extension of Broadway to Larimer impresses me as impor- 
 tant, not so much for is effect on the beauty of the city, buft as a 
 very great and constantly growing convenience to traffic. Incident- 
 ally, the extension would attractively open up the East Denver High 
 School. Broadway seems destined to increasing value as a cross- 
 town thoroughfare; its continuation northward would make a short 
 cut to a large and well built-up section of the city; and with the 
 extension to the North side of the viaduct at Twenty-third Street, 
 which ought eventually to be made, it would offer a very short and 
 convenient route to a large portion of that part of the city. 
 
 Park Avenue would then become of value as a connecting link, 
 and there doubtless would be a justifiable demand to extend the im- 
 provement, so that a pleasant park drive complementary to* that via 
 Cherry Creek Viaduct and Fourteenth Streetmight lie through 
 Park Avenue, over the viaduct, and to the North Side parks, con- 
 necting them thus with City Park and the East Side system. Another 
 viaduct should be constructed, and I believe promptly, between Six- 
 teenth and Twenty-third Streets; and it would seem that the Tram- 
 is 
 
way Company would consider its own convenience, as well as that 
 of the public, by the prompt construction of a subway loop inside 
 the grounds of the Union Depot. 
 
 As a final section of my Report, I want to make a few sugges- 
 tions concerning the development of the aspect of the streets; though 
 I have spoken elsewhere -of parkway and boulevard treatment, and 
 of the improvement of the triangles and waste spaces at many of 
 your street intersections. 
 
 The commendable movement for artistic street lighting is ev- 
 idence of a desire for handsome streets, and of a realization of the 
 importance of this feature in them. As the streets are improved, 
 and even more rapidly, the wires ought to go underground. In this 
 respect, Denver is behind many cities of its own size in the East. 
 If the municipality itself does not care to undertake the construction 
 of conduits, it should insist upon the corporations building a certain 
 number of miles of conduit each year. This requirement imposes 
 no unreasonable hardship upon the public utility companies, and it 
 results in very quickly ridding the business section of the disfigur- 
 ing and dangerous wires, and in gradually extending their removal 
 to the residential districts. On some of the broader streets, to re- 
 turn to the matter of lighting, Denver would do well, I believe, to try 
 the Buenos Ayres system center lights on ornamental poles, each 
 on a low pedestal that serves as a small isle of safety. Streets thus 
 lighted, and many cities furnish scattered examples of them, are 
 handsome by day and picturesque by night, while the isles effectively 
 divide the travel into opposing but never conflicting streams. Where 
 this is done, a clock can, at intervals, be made an attractive and use- 
 ful adjunct to the pole, and Denver seems not to have many street 
 clocks. Public comfort stations are also an exceedingly desirable 
 feature in the street development in business districts, especially. 
 But in the United States, these are expected to have no conspicuous- 
 ness from the street. 
 
 On residential thoroughfares, the trees are a very important fea- 
 ture, and I would urge the employment of a city forester. This of- 
 
 19 
 
ficial may be at the head of a separate bureau, he may be under the 
 control of the Board of Public Works, or he may be an employee of 
 the Park Department. The thing that counts is to have some experi- 
 enced man responsible for the setting out and the caro of the street 
 trees. This is important in every city and on the whole, a separate 
 official for this work has usually given the best results. With you, 
 it is especially important since your trees need so much care. 
 
 Various conditions here invite the suggestion that the city for- 
 ester be given a good deal of responsibility. Because your trees have 
 to be freely watered, his department might well be charged also with 
 the maintenance of the parking that is, the strip of turf between 
 walk and curb line on all residential streets, except the boulevards, 
 where a majority of the property owners petition for such care, the 
 city assessing -the cost of this on the property. In other words, I 
 recommend for Denver a city forester, who shall have control of the 
 trees on all streets that are not under the care of the Park Commis- 
 sion; whose duty it shall be to plant trees in front of vacant or other . 
 land where trees have not been planted; who shall conserve uniform- 
 ity in the planting on each separate street; whose employees shall 1 
 cut out the dead wood, shall trim the trees and water them ; and who, 
 on petition of a majority of the property owners of a street, shall! 
 take care also of the parking, the cost of this extra service which 
 he should be able to give more economically than could individuals 
 being assessed back upon the property. This plan would provide in 
 a satisfactory way for the care of those breaks in the parking in 
 front of vacant property that belongs to absent owners, which are 
 an eyesore and nuisance to well built-up districts, while it would 
 put no burden on outlying property in sections not yet built up. 
 
 A word remains to be said as to what the citizens themselves 
 can do on their home property to make a more beautiful Denver. 
 Upon their lawns, they deserve the sincerest congratulations. With 
 all the handicap that insufficient rainfall gives, the citizens here have 
 made "the Denver lawn" a synonym for beautiful turf. Around many 
 of the houses, there well might be now, in addition to the lawns, 
 
 20 
 
some use of shrubbery, to wed the house and ground, and break the 
 hard angle made by a wall rising sheer from the grass. Shrubs are 
 comparatively easy to take care of, and give much pleasure, as well 
 as adding beauty. Window boxes, too, give a touch of color and 
 beauty to even the smallest house, and while they dress the street, 
 they repay their owner in direct returns of pleasure. 
 
 The billboards we have always with us, and I am sorry that I 
 have ho remedy to suggest. The restriction of their height, and the 
 requirement that it shall be possible to see beneath them, and that 
 they shall be placed a certain number of feet back from the street, 
 are regulations that lessen some of their worst evils. Sky signs and 
 signs painted on building ends are appearing, but they are a more 
 grievous city wrong here than in most places. I have found no one 
 in Denver who does not love the mountains and consider their beauty 
 the great aesthetic asset of the city ; and yet such signs are to be seen, 
 so hung or painted as to blot out some of the mountain view or to 
 lessen its attraction. I cannot tell how many times a day I have gone 
 to my window in the hotel simply to look at the hills. Every time 
 I have had to read the word "Orpheum" not a bad name in itself 
 until I have grown very tired of it. I suppose in my mind's eye I 
 never shall see the Denver view of the Eocky Mountain Kange with- 
 out a foreground of the old brick wall with that word on it. But 
 quite likely, that sign of itself has never led anybody to go to the 
 theater, and it seems to me poor business policy for the citizens to. 
 allow their great view, the view that draws the tourists, to be marred 
 by such thoughtlessness. It is an economic waste, and the sign I name 
 is a type of others. 
 
 The smoke is shutting out the mountains much more seriously 
 than do the signs, besides doing other damage. There is "business" 
 the great justifier back of that. But volumes of very black smoke 
 mean poor stoking as surely as they do soft coal, and that also is 
 economic waste. It is to be hoped that mechanical ingenuity will 
 some day create a device that will stoke with the patient persistence 
 and care of a model employee. Until it does, the managers of Den- 
 
 21 
 
vcr industries should make use of such mechanical helps as they can 
 get, and then keep a closer watch on their firemen. The municipal- 
 ity can give aid in this matter by enacting an ordinance limiting 
 the number of minutes in an hour during which dense smoke may 
 pour from a chimney, by creating the position of inspector to watch 
 the smoke, and by levying fines for violation of the law. I believe 
 public sentiment would support the ordinance, as it does in other 
 cities. 
 
 In the course of this long Eeport, I have found not a little to 
 criticize and much to suggest. The whole study has been of exceed-" 
 ing interest because Denver is so beautiful already, so marvelously 
 developed in its short life, so well worth saving and making the very 
 most of. The city is obviously at the parting of the ways. It has 
 reached the point where its further growth is going to reduce it to 
 the level of other cities and make it commonplace; or else is going 
 to turn to account the city's natural opportunities, enhance its beauty 
 and attractiveness, make it beautiful, noble, splendid one of the' 
 fair cities of all the world. Happily, the choice lies with the peo- 
 ple of Denver; with its own citizens and its own officers. They know 
 which course will pay best in the long run, and which will make life 
 most worth living for themselves, and will make their own homes 
 pleasantest. The spirit that has made Denver what it is the "smile 
 and push" will carry her on to better achievement, and will dare, 
 as it already desires, to make her beautiful. 
 
 I have only a word to add. In taking up the work, concentrate 
 on the immediately necessary; and do the thing that is worth while, 
 instead of puttering at half-way measures. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 CHARLES MULFORD ROBINSON. 
 Denver, January 18, 190G. 
 
 22 
 
Extract from an address by Mayor Robert W. Speer at the Tax- 
 payers' Public Improvement Banquet, given by the Real Estate^ 
 Exchange, February 1, 1906. 
 
 "To carry out this plan, what would be the cost of land and 
 improvements ? 
 
 "Estimates have been made by a number of our leading real 
 estate men, and they vary from $2,750,000 to $3,250,000. I think it 
 is safe to place the value at $3,000,000. 
 
 "How can it be paid for? General city bonds cannot be issued 
 for a longer time than 15 years, which would make this expense a 
 burden on our people. I am satisfied that it would have to be pur- 
 chased by the East Denver park district, which includes about two- 
 thirds of the real estate assessments of the city. This park district 
 has its parks free of debt, and they were secured by the city at large 
 before the districts were created City park, Congress park, Curtis 
 park and Fuller park are within its boundaries. 
 
 "Park district and special assessment bonds are obligations of 
 districts not of the city, and the time limitation of state and city 
 bonds does not apply, but is governed by the city charter, which can 
 be 'amended at the May election, so as to permit the issue of 50-year 
 bonds, with payment of principal to commence in five or ten years 
 after the bond issue. This- would so distribute the expense as to be 
 a burden on no one, and permit those who come after us to share in 
 payment, as well as in the enjoyment of this improvement. 
 
 "What would it cost you ? The park board would issue bonds for 
 $3,000,000 and assess the property benefited that amount. The real 
 value of the property in the district is over $120,000,000, so that it 
 would require an average assessment of 2 1/2 per cent, on value of all 
 property in district, with 50 years in which to pay for it; but the 
 park board must make the assessments in accordance with benefits. 
 
 23 
 
Three zones might be made one of the property fronting the im- 
 provement, which would have the highest assessment rate say 5 or 6 
 per cent.; another, including the territory between Fourteenth and 
 Eighteenth streets, Larimer and Broadway, also all land within one 
 block of improvement, with an assessment of from 3 to 4 per cent.; 
 and the third zone to contain the balance of the district, including 
 the residence sections, with an assessment of about iy 2 per cent. This 
 would make the property receiving the greater benefit pay the larger 
 cost, while the owner of a home worth $2,000 would only be assessed 
 $30, with interest on that amount, and have 50 years in which to 
 pay it. Perhaps the best way to make this assessment would be by 
 the front foot in each zone it would produce the same amount, but 
 distribute it differently." 
 
 24 
 
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