Southwest Denver basement home historic district proposal: Kenny Be's Yard Arteology
College View: House looks like a dragon.
The basement house pictured above is one of the few remaining examples of a historic architectural style that proliferated in southwest Denver for a brief time after World War 2. In this side view, the house looks like a dragon, with the head and neck serving as the entrance. The back view looks like a house stuck in quicksand...
College View: Home, home under the range.
Basement homes were built after the end of World War 2 to meet the housing demands created by returning soldiers. Not that soldiers wanted to live in foxholes, but basement houses provided an innovative and inexpensive solution to the housing needs of young families. A young couple strapped for cash could buy a basement house and build up as their incomes and family grew.
Typically, basement houses were built of concrete, or concrete blocks, with a subfloor constructed below the low-pitched roof. Most of the people who bought basement homes removed the roof and built a house on top of the subfloor, making basement homes an extremely rare and historic housing style.
The home pictured above is one of the few examples that remain in southwest Denver. Since May is National Historic Preservation Month, what better time to suggest including this home in a Southwest Denver Basement Home Historic District. Without historic preservation efforts, the existing basement homes in Denver will fail to meet housing codes and be destroyed when the current owner decides to sell.
Below, another historic basement home in Southwest Denver that is just barely taller than a security fence...
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