Selected Projects
Bachelor-Commodore Mine Complex
Clerestory Preservation authored the National Register nomination for this over 28-acre mine complex outside of Creede, Colorado, which was listed as an Endangered Place by Colorado Preservation, Inc. in 2006. Set high on the steep slopes of Bachelor Mountain, descending to West Willow Creek and the county road below, the complex is one of the most photographed mining landscapes in the state, as its buildings and structures loom over the popular recreational and interpretive route known as the Bachelor Loop. The Bachelor and Commodore mines were two of the biggest producers of ore within the Creede Mining District in the 1890s-1910s, then later, when their workings and output were combined in the 1930s, they had the most productive years of all the Creede-area mines. Mountain States Historical contributed archaeological and mining history expertise in the preparation of the nomination. With its National Register listing in July 2021, the complex is now primed for preservation
CB&Q Denver Shops Powerhouse
An excellent example of an an industrial powerhouse from the 1920s, this building supplied steam power to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Denver Shops, where the railroad’s entire western fleet of steam locomotives was serviced from 1923 through the 1950s. The nomination prepared by Clerestory Preservation resulted in the powerhouse’s listing in the National Register in Spring 2021.
Boulder County Courthouse
The Boulder County Courthouse played a unique and pivotal role in bringing national attention to the issue of same-sex marriage, as the site where six licenses were issued by County Clerk Clela Rorex from March through April 1975. Although earlier instances of marriage licenses for same-sex couples had occurred in Minnesota (1971) and Arizona (January 1975), each was an isolated instance that eventually would demonstrate an unwillingness of local authorities to follow the letter of the law as applied to same-sex couples.
Following a National Register nomination amendment and a National Historic Landmark (NHL) Letter of Inquiry, Clerestory Preservation, in partnership with Pine Street Preservation, is preparing an NHL nomination in recognition of this important, under-represented history of LGBTQ civil rights.
Women’s Suffrage Sites in Colorado
To celebrate 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, Clerestory Preservation prepared a survey plan for sites associated with the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Colorado on behalf of the Colorado Historical Foundation. The plan includes a context statement connecting nearly 60 years of women’s suffrage history in the state with the sites where that history occurred. The project was funded by a grant from the History Colorado State Historical Fund.
The Fort Restaurant
Built in 1963 of adobe following the design of renowned adobe architect William Lumpkins, The Fort restaurant has been a Metro-Denver destination ever since. The Fort was originally listed in the National Register in 2006 in recognition of its architectural importance, but included only the footprint of the building. Clerestory Preservation prepared an amendment to the nomination in order to expand the designation boundary. This new boundary includes the sandstone outcropping and surrounding land, from which the raw materials for the adobe was excavated and where the adobe bricks were fabricated on site.
Engelbrecht Farm
At this farm in 1948, inventor Frank Zybach built a prototype of the first center-pivot irrigation system with farm-owner Ernest Engelbrecht from various farm machine parts. Although it took several years for the center-pivot system to gain momentum, it is now one of the main types of irrigation in the United States, predominantly on the Great Plains, where in some states it can account for more than 75 percent of irrigated farmland.
Erika prepared the National Register nomination recognizing the farm’s national significance for the center-pivot system’s invention.