Curtis Park

Case Study

By: Megan Gebke

        My case study for my thesis is Curtis Park in Denver, Colorado.  Many points relate back to my own thesis which involves master planning a neighborhood in St. Louis just a couple blocks north of the Edward Jones Dome.  Curtis Park was first of many suburbs in the Denver area.  Like my site, Curtis Park was filled with diversity among nationalities.  The neighborhood thrived, filling with beautiful Victorian and Italianate architecture.  In the 1960s and 1970s, the neighborhood began to decline.  People left the suburb to move to the city or elsewhere.  This left the site abandoned and buildings vacant for years.  My site in St. Louis did the same thing.  The neighborhood was left empty.  Some larger homes were split up into several units and became low income housing.  Because of the vacant lots, crime and danger rose in the area, which led to getting a bad reputation.  In Curtis Park, things started looking up when in 1975, they became named to the National Register of Historical Places.  People became familiar with the area and realized beautifully built homes were left vacant.  People started slowly moving back to the area.  Today Curtis Park is one of the top suburbs in Denver to get a building permit.

         With my project, my site, Old North St. Louis, has started a restoration group.  They have started to change the perception of the neighborhood, but has a long way to go.  My goal for my thesis is to create a master plan for the site that will become economical and safe.  To create a place where people will want to live and small businesses will want to thrive.