A Few More Words About DU

As I mentioned in yesterday's Blog post, I went back to the University of Denver to attend the quarterly Good Neighbors meeting Wednesday night, and afterwards took a walk around campus.  I must say, it is still very beautiful, and walking around it - along with the fact DU does not intend to tear down my condo building to put up a new light rail station - made me feel a little less bitter about the university outsourcing the DU Bookstore, where I worked for almost 30 years.  But just a little.  The university is planning a number of new buildings on campus, including a new freshman dorm right around the corner from the campus green.  They are also going to replace the Driscoll Center, where the bookstore and cafeterias are located. I am sure it will cause a lot of pain and disruption for the now Follett operated DU Bookstore. Good.  As for the architecture,  I myself prefer the older university buildings, like Evans Memorial Chapel, built in 1878 and seen at sunset in the photograph on the left.

The university has a number of reflecting ponds running through it's campus, and the photograph on the right shows the reflection of Evans Chapel in one of those ponds.  My photographic high point, by the way, was when one of my photographs of a DU building in front of one of these ponds was put on the cover of the Alumni Calendar one year.  And let me tell you right now, fame is fleeting.  In any case, the university has just hired the firm of Ayers Saint Gross (ASG) to put together a master plan for the campus and its surrounding neighborhood. Neighborhood liaison Allan Wilson mentioned that they are looking for input from the neighbors during this process, and I have every intention of giving them my two cents worth, with a special eye on the corner where my condo building is located.  I will certainly point out the status of the building as a prime example of "Soviet style" architecture, and as such,  is absolutely untouchable.