Durango's East 3rd Avenue is a street of historic homes

A few blocks east of Durango’s busy Main Avenue sits a quieter kind of history. East 3rd Avenue is a tree-lined street of older homes, the part of town where many early merchants, professionals, and families chose to build as Durango grew.

While downtown’s story is about commerce, hotels, and the railroad, this street is about home life. The houses along the avenue, in their different styles and eras, are the residential half of the same story — where people lived once the mines and the railroad had put Durango on the map.

Why a newcomer should care: streets like this one are often covered by historic-district designations, and that label can come with rules about how owners change, restore, or build. East 3rd Avenue has long been recognized for its historic character, so if you are looking at a property on or near the avenue, ask the City of Durango whether it falls within a designated district and what that means for remodeling or new construction.

It is also just a good way to read the town. Walk the avenue and you are walking through the neighborhood that grew up alongside Durango’s first prosperous decades.

For records of designated historic districts and what designation involves, see History Colorado and the City of Durango.