Town builder Avery stood for Fort Collins

  

Avery house Fort Collins' first 

National Historic Landmark

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Fort Collins' first National Historic Landmark, the Avery house at the corner of Meldrum and Mountain is a 'fairy tale cottage' that Franklin C. Avery,  owned and lived in for many years. F.C. Avery, a young civil engineer and surveyor, platted the town of Fort Collins,  in addition to first laying out the streets of Greeley in 1871 as member of the Union Colony. But contemporaries suggested the F.C. stood for "Fort Collins. "

"Avery purchased several lots in the new town," he had platted, upon Larimer County approval in 1873, according to Wayne Sundberg in "Historic Fort Collins."

"He took over the job as street supervisor. He had laid out wide streets and wanted to ensure they would be properly beautified. He issued precise instructions for the setting out of trees along the town's streets and avenues. He and several other men even went to the foothills and brought back trees for planting," wrote Sundberg.

"The Avery house was completed in the early months of 1880. The native red sandstone came from the old Stout quarry, which is now covered by the waters of Horsetooth Reservoir. The walls are two feet thick, creating deep window seats in most rooms. The formal parlor has a tiled marble fireplace. The house is furnished with ornately carved woodwork throughout. Both the interior and exterior retain much of the eighteenth century appearance."

The house and its stable house are two contributing buildings on the property. The two-story house is asserted by the Fort Collins Landmark Commission to be "one of the city's best remaining examples of the colorful construction done during its early days and of High Victorian Gothic architecture."

It was hoped that National Register listing would improve likelihood the house would be preserved, in face of high real estate prices and development pressure in Fort Collins.

In 1974, the Poudre Landmarks Foundation bought the house for $79,000. It is open for public tours on weekends year round. The home is available for wedding and private event rentals.

"In 1880,  his (F.C. Avery's) bank, the Larimer County Bank, helped build the Opera House Block which included space for the bank. The bank later became First National Bank two years later. This gave Fort Collins its only national bank for several years. In the late 1880s, the business moved to the beautiful stone building at the corner of Mountain and Linden. The Avery Block  was completed in 1897, one of the largest in town with frontage on three streets," wrote Sundberg in 1975.

Franklin C. Avery

The Avery Block, Golden Rule Store, and Electroliers in 1905 Fort Collins.