Montezuma Avenue is often billed by realtors as a historic district, but a new effort by the Cortez Historic Preservation Board is aiming to make it official.
If approved by Cortez City Council, Montezuma Avenue would be the first official historic district in the city.
The board is currently asking owners of registered historic property on the Avenue to decide on three different district boundary options, which all vary in how far east the designation would stretch.
The western boundary in all options is N. Chestnut Street. The north and south boundaries are the alleys adjacent on Montezuma Avenue. There are three possibilities for the east boundary: the eastern boundary of the original townsite at 219 E. Montezuma; N. Washington Street; or N. Harrison Street.
The first option requires that at least 22 of the 31 included property owners be on board with the plan. The second option, ending the eastern boundary district at the original townsite, requires 25 of the 36 included property owners to sign on. The third option, which extends the eastern boundary all the way to N. Harrison Street, requires that 37 of the 53 included property owners sign on.
About a dozen Montezuma Avenue homeowners attended a Feb. 12 meeting on the district, held at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church. Most expressed that they were on board with the idea, though some were more skeptical about what the designation would mean for their property’s resale value, tax rate or color choice.
“Nobody is going to tell you what color to paint your house, or what roof you can have,” explained Linda Towle, chairman of the Historic Preservation Board. “It’s an honorary designation only that builds around the existing median’s designation.”
Platted in 1886, Montezuma Avenue’s only official historic designation lies on the landscaped median. While many historic districts around the country are united by a common architectural theme, Montezuma Avenue uniquely qualifies for the designation because of the uniformity of the landscaping, said Jill Seyfarth, the city’s historic preservation consultant.
“Along Montezuma, we have a range of architectural styles, so they (styles) aren’t playing as big a role, but the thing it really has going is the landscape cohesiveness of the street,” said Seyfarth. “You can really see the former intent of setting up the neighborhood. ...It was going to be the premier neighborhood of Cortez.”
In her research of Montezuma Avenue, Seyfarth recalled an old Durango Herald article that quoted the avenue’s designer as saying it would make Cortez, “the Cleveland of the West.”
“(The landscaping) really speaks to what the town was trying to be,” she said. “You can still get that feeling when you walk down the street.”
Towle encouraged the meeting’s attendees to engage their neighbors and talk with them about the boundaries.
“We definitely need more neighbors to sign up,” said Towle.
The Historic Preservation Board has set a deadline of April 30 to gather property owners’ votes.
For more information, call Historic Preservation chairman Linda Towle at 970-565-3987.
