Show Your Pride in Your Historic House

Your house doesn't have to have an official historic landmark designation for you to think it's pretty darn cool to live in an old house that's full of character, history, and the occasional oddball quirk. So whether you've sought landmark designation or not, Protect Our Old Town Homes has an offer for you. We're selling house and yard signs that you can purchase to show off your pride of place. We've modeled them off of some signs that are already up around town. Our house signs will look similar to the sign up at 816 W. Mountain.

The house signs will all have this black on bronze look, but they are available in three different materials: zinc (the strongest), magnesium (which is what the above photo shows. These are really only recommended if they'll be on a porch, away from sun and rain.), and metalgraph plastic (the cheapest, but still looking pretty sweet). They're 10 inches wide by 5 inches high and will look nice on the outer wall of your house next to your front door.

The yard signs are made of aluminum, making them sturdy enough to survive even our windiest days. They're modeled after signs that are currently on view at 1306 West Mountain and 108 South Whitcomb, but they'll have the same format as our house signs. They're a bit larger, though, measuring 17 inches wide and 12 inches high. These will come with a metal stake attached so that they can be inserted easily into your front garden.

At the top of the sign we're encouraging people to put the name of the first owner of the house, which is traditionally how historic homes are designated. This might take a bit of sleuthing on your part (unless you already live in house that's landmark designated or in a landmark district). There are a couple of ways to go about finding the original owners. If you happen to have the title book that has been handed down from owner to owner, then you're all set. If not, then you can either visit the Archives at the Museum of Discovery (and they'll be happy to walk you through how to find that information) or you can check the microfiche copies of the old address books (like phone books, only without phone numbers) and find the name of the first person associated with your house. (People are listed by street.) The county assessor's listing for your property will give you an approximate date to begin your search. Because the county assessor's records don't always list when a house was built but only when the property was purchased, you can pretty much count on the "built on" date to be after the date listed with the county assessor.

And you don't have to live in Old Town to order a sign. Any house that is 50 years old or older has to undergo historic review if exterior changes are going to be made, which is a tip off that any house 50 years old or older could be considered historic (if it hasn't been drastically altered on the outside). Many of Fort Collin's charming 1950s and 1960s modern houses are conceivably historic. In fact, some of those modern houses are already designated historic along Sheely Drive, just south of Colorado State University.

Once you've got the name of the house's original owner and the date that the house was built (even if it's just approximate) then download and print the order form for a sign. Checks can be made out to POOTH (the acronym for Protect Our Old Town Homes). We'll take care of ordering and pick up and we'll even deliver your sign to your doorstep. This is a small fundraiser for POOTH. We're hoping to raise some funds for upcoming classes we'll be hosting on the historic architecture of Old Town, period fixtures for houses, tips on how to keep up with the upkeep of your historic house, and so on. Forms are due August 21st and signs should be finished and ready for delivery by September 15th.