2020.2.24 Letters in support of 1770 13th - Teahouse designation William Bechhoefer, FAIA
825 10th Street Boulder,CO 80302-7551 e-mail: wbbaumd.edu
24 February 2020
City of Boulder Planning-Historic Preservation
1739 Broadway, 41 Floor
PO Box 791
Boulder, CO 80306
To the Boulder Landmarks Board:
Enclosed are 5 letters of support for landmarking the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse.
Also enclosed is a copy of a letter written in 2015 by Dr. Hooman Koliji, a colleague from the
University of Maryland, who was visiting me here in Boulder. At the time I thought the
landmarking process was more imminent than it turned out to be, so I asked him for a
recommendation. As you can see from the letter,he is well qualified. You may already have
received this letter,but I wanted to make sure you have it.
Sinely
F
William Bechhoefer, AIA
*Professor Emeritus of Architecture,University of Maryland, College Park, MD
*Friends of The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse
UNIVERSITYof
DENVER
ARTS, HUMANITIES&SOCIAL SCIENCES
Department of English
February 10, 2020
Dear City of Boulder Landmarks Board Members:
I hereby add my name to the City of Boulder citizens who wish to gain Landmark
status for the architectural wonder of the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse.
Members of my family have often enjoyed our experience of the Teahouse.
And we all value and recognize the marvelous contribution it makes to our city.
Thanks for your kind attention to this letter.
ours respectfully,
Diana Wilson
Professor Emerita
The Academy
970 Aurora Avenue
Apt. A205
Boulder, CO 80302
Sturm Hall,495 12000 E.Asbury Ave. Denver,CO 80208-0940 1 Main:303.871.2266 1 Fax:303.871.2853 1 www.du.edu/english
Frances A Burton
832 Lincoln Pl.
Boulder, CO 80302
Landmarks Board
City of Boulder
Dear Board Members,
I write in support of granting Landmark status to the Dushanbe Teahouse. Its architecture and
history are unique in Boulder,and perhaps in the entire country.Granting it Landmark status
would ensure its integrity for the future and would allow it to look and function as the people
of Tajikstan intended when they gave it to their sister city.
Sincerely yours,
Frances Burton
February 20, 2020
To: City of Boulder Landmarks Board:
The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse has long been a very enjoyable place for my family to take
ourselves and sometimes out of town guests for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The tale of the
reason for the gift, and for the long struggles to receive, store, and finally erect it has long been
one of our favorite stories to tell. I would like to think of many people in Boulder enjoying the
Teahouse for many years to come.
���&. V"4�-Z
Martha Van Sickle
833 10" Street,A301
Boulder, CO, 80302
February 12, 2020
To
City of Boulder Landmarks Board
Boulder, Colorado
From
Nan Phifer
833 loth Street
Boulder, Colorado
Dear Landmarks Board Members:
I write to encourage you to grant landmark status
for the Dushanbe Teahouse. It is a meaningful gift to our
residents, it is extraordinarily intricate, and it represents
friendship with people who live far from us. To care for
and preserve a thing of beauty that expresses international
friendship is important.
Thank you for considering my request.
Yours truly,
�'w- 'Pitt,
Nan M. Phifer
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UNIVERSITY OF College Park,Maryland 20742-1411
MARYLAND
301.405.8000 TEL 301.314.9583 FAX http://www.arch.umd.edu
School of Architecture, Planning&Preservation
Architecture•Historic Preservation- Urban Studies and Planning
Boulder City Council
1777 Broadway St.
Boulder, CO 80302
Re: Dushanbe Tea House
July 28,2015
Dear Members of the City Council,
I am writing this letter in strong support of Dushanbe Tea House to achieve landmark
status. I had a chance to visit the Tea House on an occasion of visiting my dear colleague
Prof. Bechhoefer,and had a chance to observe this valuable structure.
I found Dushanbe Tea House(Dushanbe means Monday, and there are still popular
Dushanbe Bazaar in many cities across Persian Plateau),very charming and beautiful,
and certainly a valuable building and an asset to the public life and the beautiful City of
Boulder.
The design invokes the idea of garden pavilions(Kooshk). The details and ornaments
were intricate and relate to Tajik and Afghan architecture (which are under the umbrella
of Persian traditions). The ceiling ornamentals were paintings informed by glazed tiling
utilized in Tajik architecture, and the wooden columns represent beautiful work of
craftsmanship. The use of general patterns(as opposed to geometric patterns)became
widely popular after the 15th century across the entire plateau(great examples in
Ottoman and Safavid architecture). Since I have not completed research on any Tajik
architecture,I cannot tell for sure the authenticity of the ornaments in terms of use of
vegetal patters, compositions,and color. However,the overall patterns and colors
certainly have strong references to vernacular Tajik/Afghan architecture and
overwhelmingly represent Tajik culture. I can tell that spatial references (coffers-like
spaces, and other volumes in the ceiling) seem to be authentic and address vernacular
architecture(flat ceilings with small cupolas). Ironically, since Boulder is a city in the
mountain, such type of roof structures is frequently found in mountainous vernacular
architecture of Iran and the region. I found Dushanbe Tea House invaluable in terms of
being a cultural delegate to a large region of the world with rich cultures that exceeds
Tajikistan.
With over 15 years of research and practice in that general region and here in the United
States, I can say with confidence that Dushanbe Tea House embodies cultural and
architectural values of its origin and much deserves to be valued accordingly. I have
travelled extensively internationally and in the U.S., and such cultural representative with
this degree of elaboration are rare. I urge members of the City Council and the Public to
advocate a landmark status for Dushanbe Tea House, so the City can further cherish this
gem.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
oiv�l F to's
Hooman Koliji,M.Arch, MLA,PhD
Associate Professor
School of Architecture Planning and Preservation
University of Maryland College Park
Editorial Board:
Nexus Network Journal:Architecture and Mathematics
Past:
Assistant Professor of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
School of Architecture and Urban Planning
Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.