Design puts Main Street into top physical shape by capitalizing on assets — such as historic buildings and pedestrian-oriented streets; creating an inviting atmosphere (attractive window displays, well-managed parking areas, building improvements, street furniture, signs, sidewalks, lights and landscaping); instilling good maintenance practices; and enhancing the physical appearance by rehabilitating historic buildings, encouraging appropriate new construction, developing sensible design management systems, and long-term planning.
Architectural Services
- Official Colorado Main Street communities and their business and building owners can request assistance from our full-time architect, Larry Lucas, using this online form, free of charge.
- Webinar: Colorado Main Street Architectural Services
Preservation
Preservation blends the past with the future, protecting what is important to our communities - rehabilitating older and historic buildings and protecting and celebrating intangible heritage. This ethic is at the center of the Main Street Approach, which was founded to preserve and enhance the physical, social, and cultural core of our communities.
Basics
- Facade Grant Programs in Colorado Main Street Communities
- Webinar: Main Street Design 101
- Webinar: Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Preservation
- National Historic Preservation Act
Certified Local Governments
- Webinar: Main Streets and Certified Local Governments
- Publication: Understanding Certified Local Governments in Colorado
- History Colorado Certified Local Government Program
Funding
- Preservation and Energy Funding Resources
- Webinar: Preservation Tax Credits
- Webinar: Resources for Your Downtown
- Webinar: Preservation Funding
- Webinar: Layering Preservation Incentives for Local Governments, slides
Housing and Infill
- Video: Upstairs Downtown Part 1: The Housing Opportunity
- Video: Upstairs Downtown Part 2: Making Housing Happen
- Webinar: Appropriate Infill for Historic Main Street Districts
Partners
- Colorado Preservation Inc.
- Main Street America
- National Trust for Historic Preservation
- American Planning Association Colorado Chapter
Spotlight: City of Leadville - National Registry Know How
Spotlight: Town of San Luis - Connecting Historic Preservation with Economic Vitality
Heritage Energy
The Heritage Energy Approach was developed to assist rural Colorado Main Street building and business owners to better reinvest in their historic properties. Sustainability has long been the overarching goal of both historic preservationists (heritage conservation) and energy conservationists (environmental conservation).
- Resources and Incentives Guide
- Code Guides
- Webinar: Energy Funding for Main Streets
- Webinar: New Synergy in Historic Preservation & Sustainability
Spotlight: Town of Silverton - Integrating Historic Preservation and Sustainability
Streetscapes
- Webinar: Colorado Downtown Streets - A Tool of Communities, Planners and Engineers
- Colorado Downtown Streets Toolkit
- Green Infrastructure Guide to Colorado Downtown Streets
- Webinar: Appropriate Infill for Historic Main Street Districts
- Art in the Public Right-of-Way Guidelines (Colorado Department of Transportation)
- Revitalizing Main Street Grants (Colorado Department of Transportation)
Spotlight: Town of Rangely - Transforming Vacant Spaces into Beautiful Parks
Placemaking
- “Creative Placemaking: How to Do It Well” – article from Community Development Investment Review
- Project for Public Spaces
- Community Heart & Soul
- Colorado Creative Industries
Spotlight: Town of Lyons - Connecting Economic Vitality and Tourism with the Arts