Avery House. Built in 1879 by Franklin and Sarah Avery. Franklin to Fort Collins in 1873 as a surveyor and platted the town. He was later a banker. Members of the Avery family lived in the house until 1962. 328 West Mountain Avenue. National Register of Historic Places 72000274 DSC_0018
Saturday began by meeting Drew downtown for brunch at Snooze. It was one of several restaurants in the historic district where people were having breakfast. After breakfast, Drew had a number of errands to attend to before the evening concert. Susan and I struck out on our sightseeing. First stop was the Colorado State University campus. The land grant university was founded in 1870 as the Colorado Agricultural school. The main campus centers around The Oval, laid out in 1909, and its several academic buildings in the Italian Renaissance style. We parked and walked over to the Lory Plaza, the core of the modern campus. The Natural Resources building has a display of Colorado rocks, which make for a good introduction to Colorado geography. In the Lory Student Center is the bookstore, the place to find CSU spirit wear, magnets and souvenirs.
The Avery House was our next destination. The historic house was built in 1879 by Franklin and Sarah Avery. Franklin to Fort Collins in 1873 as a surveyor and platted the town. He was later a banker. Members of the Avery family lived in the house until 1962. It is a house museum today with many
Colorado State University Administration Building. Built in 1924. Located at the head of The Oval. 900 Oval Drive. IMG_6578
of the original furnishings on display. A tour of the house was led by a very enthusiastic docent in period dress. She knew every detail of the house and the family. In fact, she was so into telling us all about the house and its artifacts, the tour lasted an hour and a half. In the parlor, she demonstrated a 1920s Edison phonograph by playing a record on it. You dont see that at many historic houses!
Still full from breakfast, Susan and I decided our lunch would be ice cream at the Old Town Churn ice cream stand. The Churn, in the shape of an ice cream churn, is a great example of Novelty or Programmatic architecture. That is, where the shape of a building denotes its name or function. I ordered a hot fudge sundae with Mexican Chocolate ice cream. While we were there, a quinceaera group with photographers in tow appeared. At that moment, rainstorm popped up. We, the group and others took shelter in the Crooked Stave. They did not seem to mind. The quinceaera party sat down at a table, enjoyed their ice cream and had more photos taken. I was glad the girl
Former Colorado State University Library. Built in 1928. Adaptive reuse as the The Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT) and Student Disability Center. 801 Oval Drive. MG_6570
I wanted to seek out the Fort Collins Trolley. Two vintage Fort Collins streetcars are operated on weekends by the Fort Collins Municipal Railway Society. They run on a 1.5 mile route from City Park to Mountain and College. (There needs to be better directions on finding the City Park terminal.) It appears to be an extremely popular attraction for Fort Collins residents. The motorman seemed to know many of the riders. Unfortunately, it was sold out and so we were not able to ride. But at least I saw one of the cars in operation.
With that we returned to our hotel to have a light dinner and get ready for the evening concert. The concert took place at 7:30 p.m. at the CSU Center for the Performing Arts. The center is notable as the location of an Andy Warhol Campbells Soup Can sculpture. The performance was a production of the Vincent Youmans and Otto Harbach musical No, No, Nanette. The musical is most famous for the song Tea for Two but also includes Too Many Rings Around Rosie and I Want to Be Happy. Drew shared
conducting duties with the other graduates in his MMus program specializing in conducting.
