Aspen City Hall, known in the past as Armory Hall, Fraternal Hall, is located at the intersection of South Galena Street and East Hopkins Avenue in
Aspen
Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus.
Species
These species are called aspens:
*'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...
, Colorado, United States. It is a brick building dating to the 1890s. In 1975 it was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
It was built to serve both as headquarters for the local
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
and as a community gathering place. It served a variety of community-related functions, eventually becoming city hall in the mid-20th century. Later in the century, as the city grew again into an affluent resort community, it had to move some of its departments to other office space and renovate the city hall extensively, particularly inside.
Building
The building is located on the northeast corner of the intersection, opposite the
Hyman–Brand Building, also listed on the Register. The intersection is one block south of Main Street (
State Highway 82) and another listed property, the
Pitkin County Courthouse
The Pitkin County Courthouse is located on East Main Street ( State Highway 82) in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a large brick building erected in the late 19th century that serves as offices of Pitkin County's courts. A landmark of the ci ...
. The terrain is level and the surrounding neighborhood heavily developed and urban, with mostly commercial buildings of one or two stories. They are an even mix of buildings from the same era as the armory and sympathetic contemporary structures, mostly of brick. An unnamed alley to the north allows passage through the middle of the
block
Block or blocked may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting
* W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...
to South Hunter Street. Tall mature trees screen the building from the streets and alley.
The building itself is a two-and-a-half-story rectangular four-by-five-
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
structure of red brick in
common bond on a stone
foundation
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
. The 14-inch-thick () walls have multiple layers of brick and load-bearing piers. It is topped by a shingled
gambrel roof
A gambrel or gambrel roof is a usually symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. (The usual architectural term in eighteenth-century England and North America was "Dutch roof".) The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, w ...
, with three symmetrically-spaced
hipped gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
s on the south pitch and two asymmetrical ones on the north. The top pitches are very shallow, sloped only as much as necessary to let water run off and hidden from view by a
parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
with stepped
brickwork
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by s ...
. It slopes down to broad overhanging
bracketed eave
The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...
s on the south side and close ones on the north.
On the west (front)
facade,
fenestration
Fenestration may refer to:
* Fenestration (architecture), the design, construction, or presence of openings in a building
* Used in relation to fenestra in anatomy, medicine and biology
* Fenestration, holes in the rudder of a ship to reduce the w ...
consists of one-over-one double-hung
sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
s on the first story, with the centrally located main entrance recessed. The stories above have slight segmental arched windows. Brick
pilaster
In classical architecture
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...
s, echoed by similar
quoin
Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...
s at the corners, rise to the roofline, where
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
s support a
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
below a
parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
along the flat section. On the north and south sides are four double segmental arch windows, similar to those on the upper stories, separated by brick pilasters. The interior has been extensively renovated since construction.
History
The building was constructed in three months
in 1892, near the end of the
Colorado Silver Boom
The Colorado Silver Boom was a dramatic expansionist period of silver mining activity in the U.S. state of Colorado in the late 19th century. The boom started in 1879 with the discovery of silver at Leadville. Over 82 million dollars worth of silv ...
, at a cost of $15,000
Commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...
next to main entrance. ($ in contemporary dollars). At that time Aspen was a fast-growing mining town that had not existed 15 years earlier. It was intended to be both a staging area for the local
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
and a community meeting place. Hence its original names of Armory Hall and Fraternal Hall.
As Aspen's population dwindled after the boom in the early decades of the 20th century, it continued to serve various community-related functions such as dances and concerts, and was at one point a
roller rink
A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located i ...
.
These helped it escape the neglect and demolition which plagued many other buildings from the boom era. In 1956 it became city hall, following the demolition of the old building on Durant Avenue,
and has served that function ever since.
At some point before 1975 three of the five bays on the south side were filled in.
In the early 1990s the interior was extensively renovated to serve the needs of a modern city, once again having grown as a result of its popularity as a ski resort and upscale mountain residence. Within another decade the city had outgrown the space,
and had to establish satellite offices around the city. A $100,000 grant from the Colorado State Historical Foundation paid for repairs to the roof and brickwork. In 2008 the city spent over half a million dollars to remodel the interior. It added new electronics and furniture in the council chambers, and renovating the offices of five departments that stayed in the building while others moved to newer space.
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Government buildings in Colorado
City and town halls on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado
City and town halls in Colorado
Armories on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado
Government buildings completed in 1892
National Register of Historic Places in Aspen, Colorado
1892 establishments in Colorado