Aging with Grace

If we don’t care about our past, we cannot hope for the future …

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

The Eisenhower Chapel has built in 1941 and was completed  just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. 0ne of four nondenominational military chapels built on the former Lowry Air Force Base, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a Denver Landmark in 1982 . From 1953-1955 President and First Lady Dwight Eisenhower attended services here when Denver was the site of the summer White House. 

The simple tongue and groove architecture of the chapel has withstood many years of severe Colorado weather. Unfortunately, time has taken its toll and it, became apparent the building siding would have to be replaced. I am afraid if the chapel did not have a historic landmark  designation, the quicker and far less expensive solution of putting up some new siding of whatever product now in use would have been followed. Since that wasn’t an option, a matching funds grant of $150,000 was awarded by the Colorado State Historical Fund and donations and fund raising events managed to cover the remaining $150,000. 

As you can see from the photo, repairs have begun. It’s been interesting to see the old boards covered with tar paper and over that, the new siding. I’d forgotten how it was once done. Today, we live in a pre-fab, get it done quick, world. I wonder how much of what is built today will still be standing in seventy-eight year? I admit to being nostalgic for what seemed to be built on a more solid base.

I know this is a departure from what I usually post , however retaining notable architecture matters to me. It’s one of the reasons I live in a historic area. To paraphrase Jackie, “Our past is important to the future.”