Town of Crested Butte BOZAR Projects of the Year

by Jessie Earley, Crested Butte Building Department

Depot and Sopris house renovations

The Crested Butte Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) held its annual year-end review to consider projects completed in 2016 earlier this year and the members selected the Depot and a Sopris Avenue house renovation as projects of the year.

Members of the BOZAR and town staff reviewed a presentation of projects in the following categories: New Residential, Accessory Buildings, Accessory Dwellings, Residential Remodels and New Commercial.

The board considers the effective application of the design guidelines, the massing, site design, overall architecture and exterior materials in their consideration of all of the projects. The board selected the most outstanding projects for 2016, honoring two projects with the prestigious Project of the Year Award. Several other projects were awarded honorable mentions.

The Project of the Year for a rehabilitation to a historic home in 2016 was awarded to 313 Sopris, LLC, Jeff Hermanson, for the rehabilitation, addition and historic preservation work of the 1881 residential building located at 313 Sopris Avenue. The board commended Priscila Palhava and Peter O’Rourke for the sensitivity of this unique historic structure and the attention to detail in the rehabilitation on the project as a whole was greatly appreciated. Each step along the way, O’Rourke and Palhava met with town staff and representatives from the board to ensure that the path of rehabilitation was appropriate for this special building.

Uncovering two different types of siding, maintaining as many of the historic windows as possible, the lower “cellar” door and returning to the east elevation entry were all examples of the details they took to help this building preserve its unique character. This is an iconic building in Crested Butte, as it sits atop the hill on Sopris Avenue. According to the historic building survey, this building was built in 1881, as the Pioneer Apartment Hotel, and is one of the oldest in Crested Butte. Crested Butte founders, Howard Smith and George Holt, erected the building and the Spehar family acquired the building in 1926.

The Project of the Year for a historic rehabilitation in 2016 was awarded to MB Builders, Kevin Donovan and Geoffrey Lee and Jessica Reske, Hord Coplan Macht, for the work done at the iconic building. The board commended MB Builders, and Jessica Reske and Geoffrey Lee of Hord, Coplan, Macht Architects for the exceptional amount of work and expertise that was given in the rehabilitation of this marvelous building. The time, effort, and collaboration in achieving stellar results over the past four are beyond words. All three phases were paramount in ensuring that this building will continue to serve the residents and visitors of the town of Crested Butte another 100 years. People continue to admire and learn about the history of mining era and our magnificent town. The work to the freight room floor and extensive window rehabilitation will be a model for future rehabilitation standards for years to come.

The board commented about the craftsmanship of the work done on the vents and the sunbursts in the upper gables and attention to detail throughout. As George Sibley stated, “For most of the town’s life, the railroad represented the only significant and generally reliable contact with the rest of the world. Without the railroad, the town would not have had its mines, and without the mines there would have been no town after the silver boom.”

The Honorable Mentions for 2016 were awarded to: Bales (726 Maroon Avenue) for a new accessory building; Gebavi (120 Sopris Avenue) for rehabilitation of a historic accessory building; Kapushion (429 Gothic Avenue) for rehabilitation and addition to a historic building; and Long (308 1st Street) for rehabilitation and addition to a historic building.

This, as with each year, is a community effort and the BOZAR and Building Department staff wish to thank the property owners together with the building and design community for another successful year of construction in Crested Butte. The architectural uniqueness of town owes a great deal to their hard work. Special thanks to the following architects, designers and contractors for their hard work in 2016:

Dan Murphy

David Gross Fine Homes

Michael Weil

Freestyle Architects

Johnny Biggers

Faust Mountain Homes

Red Ridge Design

High Mountain Concepts

Holbrook and Smith

Chris Jobson

Smithworks Natural Homes

Kent Cowherd

Norton Designworks

Randy Swift

Michael Helland

Coburn Development

Kurt Oleson

Rob Mahedy

Scott Hargrove

Andrew Hadley Architects

Tincup Construction

Jodie Meredith

Willie Miller

Priscila Palhava, Studio West

Peter O’Rourke

Colvin Construction Co.

Kevin Donovan,

MB Builders

Martin Klinowski, PCI

Hord Coplan Macht

GCEA