The East Seventh Avenue Historic District will soon expand to include 19 properties within the Congress Park neighborhood after the Denver City Council approved the expansion Monday.

The expansion passed unanimously following over an hour of public hearing and council discussion. The historic designation will preserve the area by preventing the 19 newly covered properties from being demolished or significantly altered.

“Historic designations are one of the few tools residents have to preserve the city’s cultural and architectural treasures,” said David Hill, owner of one of the houses in the expanded district. “We were drawn to Congress Park, in part, because of the neighborhood’s well-preserved historic houses.”

The properties are considered historically significant because of their construction during Denver’s City Beautiful Movement in the early 1900s. Of the 19 properties, 16 embody the distinctive physical characteristics of the craftsman architectural style, said Senior City Planner Jenny Buddenborg.

In addition, the area housed Raymond Dean Jones for over 40 years, Colorado’s first African American appellate judge and a leader in Denver’s civil rights movement. Jones’ son spoke in support of the historic designation Monday.

“My dad dedicated 30 plus years of service to this city, sacrificing some of the relationships he should have had with his children, with his family, for Denver,” Raymond Jones II said. “When we talk about designating a district for my father, I want us to understand we’re talking about someone who has given back.”

During Monday’s public hearing, 14 people spoke in support of the historic designation and five spoke in opposition. Only one of those opposed, Caroline Caselli, lives in the expanded district.

Caselli said she was concerned about the regulatory burden of the designation and that she and other homeowners are “frantically” trying to finish remodeling their homes by Friday before the historic designation goes into effect.

“The No. 1 priority of the City Council is to focus on affordable housing, so I’m not totally certain how it’s possible to then go forward to add additional regulatory burden on top of homeowners,” Caselli said.

Of the 19 impacted homeowners, 12 support the designation, one opposes it, two are neutral and four haven’t responded to inquiries, according to the city. However, Caselli claims more homeowners are in opposition but aren’t speaking out due to fear of retribution from neighbors.

Though historic designation requires city approval for significant alterations made to the exteriors of homes, it also provides homeowners with access to a 20% tax credit from the state and maintains stability in the neighborhood’s property values, Buddenborg said.