Monday, February 26, 2007

What Would DeBoer Do?

Would S. R. DeBoer have wanted to preserve his home and his signature Tudor studio for posterity. Would he have wanted the trees he planted to remain? Or would he have endorsed razing the property so that his descendants could sell it off to a developer for 17 living units and parking spaces for 17 cars? DeBoer was no stranger to conflicts that arose from developers and business interests in the City.


"We mountain staters have in our residential sections something unusual and extraordinary . . . We are far too prone to copy from foreign artists and architects and to forget what we have at home. The open spaces that surround our homes are the greatest single asset of our cities and far surpass the garden city idea, which is of European origin."
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"The story of the trees on Federal Boulevard I wish I could erase from my memory. . . . The trees were fully grown but they had not been watered for several years. . . The park engineer who had neglected the trees had them cut down. it was wholesale slaughter, and I am still ashamed that Denver could have an experience like this."
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"The Denver region is rapidly filling with people. We must expect that our natural beauty is apt to be attacked from all sides and, therefore, those of us who realize that Denver's economic welfare is interwoven with the beauty of its region must take a definite stand to see to it that this is not wantonly destroyed. Some of the work which comes under the name of improvement might well be labelled vandalism."

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