• Federal Historic Preservation Funding Update 

  • FY25 historic preservation funding has been released as of July 1, 2025, when the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) was posted on grants.gov allowing for State Historic Preservation Offices and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices to apply for their FY25 funding. History Colorado and other state historic preservation offices (SHPOs) across the nation depend on this funding to support the preservation work we do at the local level. Funding for the Historic Preservation Fund in FY26 and beyond remains uncertain and is currently proposed to be cut almost in its entirety. If you are interested in commenting on the proposed budget changes for FY26 and beyond, please contact your representatives to share your opinions.

• Save the Date: Poudre Landmarks Foundation's 41st Annual Historic Homes Tour
  
  • The Historic Homes Tour (HHT) is coming up on Saturday, Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.! Details and ticketing information will be added to the Poudre Landmarks Foundation website soon.
    • Interested in volunteering at this event? After doing a pre-event training, volunteers will do ticket checking, convey information about the specific property at which they are stationed, and answer questions for tour-goers in a 3.5 hour shift. Volunteers receive a free ticket to the tour! Learn more and sign up to volunteer on the City's volunteering platform.
  • On the evening of Monday, Sept. 8, there will also be a pre-tour lecture event at the Fort Collins Senior Center featuring architectural and historical information about tour properties to enhance your HHT experience! Details and ticketing information will be added to the Poudre Landmarks Foundation website soon.
• Walking Tour of Fort Collins Mid-Century Modern Architecture
  
  • Join Docomomo  (documentation and conservation of buildings and neighborhoods of the Modern Movement) and local architectural historian Ron Sladek for a 2-hour tour of Mid-Century Modern structures downtown! More details and ticketing can be found on Eventbrite. Can't get enough of Modernism? This event is actually part of a series hosted by Docomomo across the state.

Are you a historic property owner?

Contact Historic Preservation Services (preservation@fcgov.com; 970-224-6078) to learn more about financial support programs for qualifying rehabilitation work and for information on required design review.

Last Month's Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) Decisions

Meeting Date: July meeting canceled due to lack of agenda items

Meet the members of the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC)! These volunteers offer their experience, expertise, and time to provide feedback and make decisions on historic preservation matters in the city.

Name: Aaron Hull

How long have you served on the HPC?

• I have been on the HPC since April 2024, so I have been on the Commission for a little over a year.

How do you bring your professional background and experience into your work on the HPC?

• Growing up, I was interested in history and architecture, which led me to study Urban Planning and Public Administration at UCF. Currently, I work as a Mobility Planner for a regional transportation agency. I have also been a Planner at a consulting firm and a City Planner in Winter Park, FL, where I served as the Staff Liaison for the Historic Preservation Board. I applied my Historic Preservation experience in consulting, focusing on preservation from the development side. My education and background provide me with a solid foundation that deepens my understanding of preservation policy from both public and private sectors, broadening my system-level perspective.

What do you think is the most significant preservation concern in Fort Collins right now?

• I believe one of the most significant preservation concerns in Fort Collins right now is balancing historic preservation, affordable housing, smart infill development, and environmental issues. This is important because the conversation is not just about protecting individual landmarks and the historic character of our community, but also about how we develop the city without losing its roots and character, while making sure it remains affordable, inclusive, and resilient for the future.

What is your favorite historic place in Fort Collins, and why?

• My favorite historic place in Fort Collins is the Old Town Historic District. As someone who grew up in Florida and went to college in Orlando, I was always at Disney World, so finding out that Harper Goff, who designed Main Street USA at Disney, was from Fort Collins and based it on Old Town was a remarkable fact to learn. It is always fun to share this fact with friends and family from Florida who visit.

Marina Modern – Fort Collins’ Prettiest Grocery Store

Downtown Fort Collins means a lot to a lot of folks – it’s a place for fun Friday nights, for Saturday afternoon shopping in some great local businesses, a place for summer splash pads for kids, a place for music and festivals, and even a place to protest and call attention to important social issues. For many connoisseurs of historic places, it’s also where some of the city’s oldest and most beloved buildings are. But it’s also a place where some of the city’s best Modern architecture from the mid-1900s was built. 

Among those is one of Fort Collins’ oldest supermarkets, the 1966 former Safeway (now Lucky’s) at 425 S. College Ave. Designed in Safeway’s once-popular “marina-style” store design, this building is now one of the few remaining such supermarkets in the country and the only one in Colorado, reflecting the popularity of Googie-style architecture in the 1960s (also called “Coffee Shop Modern,” for the caffeine addicts out there). Its curved, swooping roof, large glass curtain wall entry, and pebbled concrete wall panels are indicative of the Modern Movement’s most extravagant architecture that used the structural strength of concrete and steel to incorporate unconventional and extravagant shapes that evoked the space age and technological progress instead of tradition. 

Although not the first supermarket to be built in Fort Collins (or even on this location), nor the only one from the Modern period, it is by far the most indicative of this architectural period, and the best preserved in the city. Four years later in 1970, Safeway added another Modern-style supermarket in similar design at the southwest corner of Prospect Road and College Avenue – 105 W. Prospect Rd. follows more traditional 1960s-1970s Contemporary design in Front Range Colorado with an angular glass curtain wall and stone veneers on its exterior walls. Both locations have since been other stores since Safeway departed. The Googie style store at 425 S. College has been a Gart Sports and a Sports Authority before Lucky’s, a Colorado-based grocery chain, returned the building to supermarket use in 2019.

What’s your favorite Fort Collins building from the Modern period (roughly 1945 to 1980)? Email us and let us know at preservation@fcgov.com.

More than just water… If you’re on the new side path on Laporte Avenue between Taft Hill Road and Fishback Avenue, the answer to the question, “What’s in a ditch?” is partially answered. As part of the Active Modes upgrades to Laporte Avenue, the City replaced two bridges over the New Mercer Canal and installed two new interpretive signs that discuss the canal, the historic bridges that were removed, and the people who worked in agriculture in the Fort Collins region from all walks of life. If you’re in the area, walk or bike by and take a look. Extra thanks to the City departments that helped get these signs from idea to reality, including FC Moves, Engineering, Art in Public Places, Communications & Public Involvement Office, and the Museum of Discovery. Much like a farming community or a ditch company, telling community stories takes a village!

Next Work Session: August 13, 2025, at 5:30 p.m., in person at City Hall (300 Laporte Ave., CIC Room). Public may attend, but no public participation occurs at work sessions.

Next Regular Meeting: August 20, 2025, at 5:30 p.m., in person at City Hall (300 Laporte Ave., Council Chambers) or virtually via Zoom. Public may attend and provide comment.

Agenda:

• Consent Agenda
  • Minutes of June 18, 2025
• Discussion Agenda: 
  • Staff Activity Report
  • Single-Unit Dwelling Demolition Notification - 1617 Person Ct.
  • Final Development Review - 360 Linden St., The Linden (mixed use)
  • Conceptual Development Review - 1000 W. Prospect Rd. - Proposed 6-story student housing project with adaptive reuse of main house and other site features

Surveys in Progress:
We are currently researching the following properties to determine if they are eligible to be Fort Collins Landmarks in association with a current development review application. Determinations of eligibility are based on the best available information today and are valid for five years. Members of the public with information regarding the history of these properties should contact Historic Preservation Services asap at preservation@fcgov.com.

• 1215 S. Shields St. - 1914 single-unit dwelling - Development Review - demolition proposed to accommodate multi-unit building
• 1211 S. Shields St. - 1923 single-unit dwelling - Development Review - demolition proposed to accommodate multi-unit building
• 1207 S. Shields St. - 1949 single-unit dwelling - Development Review - demolition proposed to accommodate multi-unit building
• 1185 Westward Dr. - 1960 single-unit dwelling - Development Review - demolition proposed to accommodate multi-unit building
• 4305 & 4325 E. Harmony Rd. - 1920 farmhouse & 1971 gas station - Development Review - demolition proposed (with possible relocation) to accommodate highway-oriented commercial development

Recent Survey Results: 

• 1501 S. Lemay Ave. - 1973 office building - Development Review - rooftop cell tower proposed; Not Landmark Eligible
• 1000 W. Prospect Rd. - 1930 single-unit dwelling - Development Review - potential site densification or relocation proposed; Landmark Eligible
• 1402 Peterson St. - 1925 single-unit dwelling - potential Landmark nomination; Landmark Eligible
• 139 Pearl St. - c. 1910 single-unit dwelling - potential Landmark nomination; Landmark Eligible 
• 616 E. Laurel St. - c. 1956 duplex - Permit Planning - Exterior Alteration; Not Landmark Eligible

The City of Fort Collins requires public notification prior to the demolition of single-unit residences over 50 years of age. These notifications occur to inform neighbors of a potential change coming to their neighborhood and because certain groups can nominate a property for Landmark designation against the wishes of a property owner under Municipal Code Sec. 14-31 (the HPC by motion, a City Councilmember by written request, or three residents together by petition). Public noticing is considered complete the day after the HPC meeting for which it is noticed. Written public comments can be submitted to preservation@fcgov.com up to 48 hours prior to the HPC meeting for inclusion with the meeting packet. These notifications appear on the commission's discussion agenda, and an opportunity for spoken public comment will also be provided at the meeting. Visit the recently updated Single-Unit Dwelling Demolition Notification webpage for more detailed information on this process.

Active Demolition Notices:

• 1617 Person Ct., built c. 1947

Recently Completed Demolition Notices:

• 408 N. Loomis Ave., built c. 1906; (no public comment at 5/21/2025 HPC Meeting; no action taken by HPC)
• 121 N. Whitcomb St., built c. 1895; (no public comment at 5/21/2025 HPC Meeting; no action taken by HPC)
• 712 Scenic Dr., built 1975; (no public comment at 4/16/2025 HPC meeting; no action taken by HPC)
• 125 W. Trilby Rd., built 1963; (no public comment at 4/16/2025 HPC meeting; no action taken by HPC)
• 616 W. Olive St., built 1924; (no public comment at 4/16/2025 HPC meeting; no action taken by HPC)

Did you know that Fort Collins became a dry city in 1896, long before Prohibition made producing, selling, and transporting liquor illegal across the state of Colorado in 1916 and across the nation in 1920?

In August 1969, thirty-six years after the repeal of state and national prohibition, the City of Fort Collins finally ended its ban on liquor. Les Ware served the first legal spirituous drink in Fort Collins in over 70 years at his Fort Collins Top Restaurant. Leslie Ware and his wife, Ruth, lived at 1801 Sheely Dr., a Fort Collins Landmark.