Loveland council approves first reading of landmark status for 1907 Grant Avenue church

Loveland City Council approved on first reading an ordinance to designate the 1907 First United Brethren Church on Grant Avenue, now a private residence, as a historic landmark and add it to the Loveland Historic Register.

Fees would be waived for designated properties needing rehabilitation, additions or other exterior façade improvements. The staff report says designation could make the property eligible for grant and tax-credit programs unavailable to non-designated properties, though eligibility would need separate confirmation.

The Historic Preservation Commission budget oversees a zero-interest loan program that an owner may use and must repay to the city within five years. The staff report says property owners may apply for a state or federal tax credit if the ordinance is approved.

The Linda K. Noffsinger Trust – 2024 requested the designation through an owner-signed nomination application dated Aug. 7. The Historic Preservation Commission recommended designation at its Sept. 21 meeting.

The ordinance finds that the church meets architectural, social/cultural and geographic/environmental significance criteria, along with the physical-integrity criteria for landmark designation. Staff found that the church's original exterior features remain legible and that, despite its conversion to a residence, the building remains recognizable as an early twentieth-century church.

The church is a two-story red-brick building in the Late Victorian and Gothic Revival styles. It has a prominent corner bell tower, Gothic-arched windows, a steep varied roofline, a cut-granite foundation and stone detailing.

The ordinance lists features that should be preserved, among them the massing, roof form, bell tower, brick exterior, Gothic-arched windows, granite foundation, inscribed cornerstone and orientation at the corner. The staff report describes exterior alterations and demolition as the customary scope of landmark review and does not propose preservation controls for interior features.

A council member asked for a high-level explanation of where the property is and why it is special. Another council member said, "I walk by this property quite frequently," and called it "so beautifully taken care of."

Councilor Geoff Frahm said he would like to see a blueprint showing how the church was converted into a house, if the owners were willing to share it, possibly at second reading. The presenter said the property owner would be willing to open the home for a tour during the summer.

The church was built in 1907 and was approximately 119 years old in 2026. After the building faced possible demolition for parking, a local sculptor acquired it and adapted it as a residence and studio. The property was bought in 2016, and its residential use continued.

The building later housed the Loveland Holiness Church beginning in 1951, the Church of God Holiness beginning in 1961, and the Valley Assembly of God in the early 1980s.

A second reading is to be scheduled under the Council agenda process.