Finally back in Denver, I decided to head for the zoo Saturday afternoon to take a few animal photographs for the Blog. However, when I got there, I found out they had already switched to winter hours and had closed at 4:00 P.M. Because of this, I decided to drive west from the zoo (which is located in Denver's City Park) toward downtown. Driving through the various neighborhoods along the way, I was reminded of just how many Victorian houses Denver has, and why Californians -who are used to paying several million for a Victorian in San Francisco - are moving here to buy similar houses at a fraction of the cost.
As long as I was in the neighborhood, I stopped in the San Rafael Historic District to take a few photographs. A number of years ago, I took a photography class at the University of Denver and took a cityscape of some houses on Ogden Street. The Victorians there were painted very vibrant blues, yellows, and other pastel colors and quite striking. However, the houses have now been repainted and are more restrained in color. To me they have lost their aesthetic appeal. Don't those owners know there are starving artists out there who need vibrant colors to give them inspiration?You would think that a street listed on the National Register of Historic Places would have restrictions to prevent them changing the colors, but I guess not. And by the way, I first became aware of this area after seeing a note card by Barbara Froula, a local Denver artist (check out her web site at http://barbarafroula.com/). I looked at Froula's website recently, and she no longer has a San Rafael note card for sale. Probably just as disgusted as I am.
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