Mapleton Hill

Mapleton Hill sits on the rise just northwest of downtown Boulder, bounded roughly by 4th Street, Broadway, Concord Street, and Spruce Street. The city designated it a historic district in 1982 and expanded the boundaries in 2002. It is Boulder's largest historic district: more than 500 houses, over half built before 1910. The Boulder Land and Improvement Company platted the hill in 1888 with wide lots and broad streets, betting that good drainage and mountain views would sell faster than downtown's flatter blocks. It worked, and much of what went up through the 1890s and 1900s in the Queen Anne and Victorian styles is still standing today.

The signature feature is the tree canopy. Developers planted more than 200 silver maples and cottonwoods to soften a hillside that had almost no shade of its own, and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. reportedly told the city the silver maple was a poor pick, brittle and short lived next to a Norway maple or pin oak. He had a point. The trees still drop limbs in heavy wet snow most years, and nobody has torn them out. Mapleton Avenue runs through the district's middle with a grassy, tree lined median, paved in concrete in 1928 over resident objections. The old Mapleton School, built in 1888 at 9th and Mapleton, now houses the district's early childhood center, one of Boulder's few original school buildings still in use.

The Squires-Tourtellot House stands at 1019 Spruce Street. History Colorado dates the three-story house to 1865. It was built of native field and river stone, with wooden additions coming later. It's been a city landmark since April 13, 1976. It predates the Victorian and Queen Anne buildout that filled in much of the neighborhood.

Head west on Mapleton toward Sunshine Canyon for trail access. Whittier is east across Broadway; downtown and Pearl Street lie south of Mapleton Hill.

Detached houses make up most of Mapleton Hill's housing, with some condos and older homes divided into units. Exterior changes in the Mapleton Hill Historic District need a Landmark Alteration Certificate; contact city preservation staff before starting that work.

Morning in Mapleton Hill sounds like sprinklers and dog leashes clicking against gates before the walk up to Sanitas. A lot of the households have been here a long time, professors, downtown business owners, empty nesters who bought before prices tripled. It is quiet enough that a delivery truck backing up on Highland Avenue counts as a minor event.

Snow is the neighborhood's honest complication. The silver maples that make the streets so pretty in October are the same trees that lose branches whenever a heavy wet snow hits before the leaves have dropped, which happens most years. Sidewalks buckle where old tree roots have pushed up the concrete, so a winter walk takes some attention to footing along with the scenery. By spring, the yards along Highland and Grove turn into a slow parade of magnolia and crabapple blooms, and people actually stop to look.

Exterior alterations in the historic district require Landmark Alteration Certificate (LAC) review, so talk to city staff before you order windows, rebuild a porch, or plan a garage. Ordinary interior work, a kitchen remodel that stays inside the walls, is handled differently. Designation can also open the door to restoration tax credits and grants, though eligibility and approval aren't automatic, so ask before you count on either. Parking rules are specific to the address and the zone.

Broadway runs along Mapleton Hill's eastern edge, and RTD's Route 208 follows it the whole way, with stops at Broadway and Mapleton, Broadway and Spruce, and Broadway and Alpine. The high frequency SKIP bus also runs Broadway, connecting south Boulder to the north side. Most people walk or bike into downtown rather than drive: it is ten to fifteen minutes on foot to Pearl Street, and the city's bike path network starts a couple of blocks away. Street parking is tighter than the wide lots suggest. The Neighborhood Parking Permit program started here in 1993, and without a resident permit, cars are limited to three hours on weekdays between 8am and 6pm.