Eugene Sternberg
Encyclopedia
Eugene Sternberg is known for his passionate commitment and contribution to contemporary/modernist, architecture and town planning in Colorado and other Rocky Mountain states between 1950 and 1990. He designed over 400 building projects and subdivisions, many of them iconic examples of Modernist architecture. Since his focus was on improving the quality of life of the general population, the structures he built were beautiful, useful, and cost-effective. Most of his projects were in the category of social architecture: affordable homes, senior housing projects, public housing, hospitals, medical clinics, public schools, community colleges, community centers, and churches, buildings for credit unions, labor unions, and headquarters offices for Rural Electric Associations. As a planner Sternberg designed a number of innovative housing subdivisions and master plans for college campuses, governmental complexes, county fairgrounds, and a number of small western cities.
, where his family had moved to be with his father as he served in the Austro-Hungarian army. When the war, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ended in 1918, the family moved back to their home in Munkacs in the province of Ruthenia
, which in 1920 became part of the new country of Czechoslovakia
.
During his elementary and high school education. Sternberg's major passion was art. He developed into an accomplished young artist and won a coveted place to study architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague
. In the summers he worked for two architectural firms in Munkacs (his first built project was a small tobacco kiosk next to the City Hall!) and for a well-known Czech architect, Frantisek Libra, in Prague
. In 1938, he earned a first degree in architecture/engineering. Adolf Hitler
's Germany occupied Czechoslovakia
in March, 1939. Because he was offered a scholarship to the University of London
's at The Bartlett
School of Architecture Sternberg was fortunate to leave Czechoslovakia in 1939, the only one of his large Jewish family to be able to do so.
After World War II
broke out in September, 1939, the Bartlett
School was evacuated to Cambridge
where Sternberg studied from 1939-1944, completing his architectural qualifications and a graduate degree in town planning and working to contribute to the war effort. His mentor in town planning was Sir Patrick Abercrombie
(use scanned photo with news article) who was, at that time, Britain's busiest and most imaginative planner.
After graduation, Sternberg was invited to join Abercrombie's firm in London
, where he worked mainly on planning new neighborhoods to replace the housing destroyed by German bombing. Sternberg also taught part-time at Cambridge University, the University of London
and the Regent Street Polytechnic. As the war drew to an end, Sternberg and Barbara Edwards, his British fiancée, decided to emigrate to the United States
. To accomplish this, they each had to secure a job in the U.S. Sternberg was offered a three-year contract to teach city planning at Cornell University
. Barbara secured a position at the British Information Services in Manhattan. Gene and Barbara were married in Ithaca, New York
in the fall of 1946, but Sternberg soon became dissatisfied with the general lack of creative activity in Cornell's architectural and planning departments, and more particularly, when he found that full-time faculty members were forbidden to practice. Sternberg resigned from the prestigious university after three months and took on the challenges of a newcomer in an unfamiliar country, wit no job and few professional contacts. However, Sternberg's background and qualifications appealed to Carl Feiss, Director of a new School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Denver, where Sternberg became Associate Professor of Design. The Sternbergs, with a six weeks old baby, took their first ever flight in August of 1947 to a new home in a city and state of which they had never heard. (photo: EDS with students)
to accept an invitation sent by the students to visit the new Denver School.
The Architecture School was housed in a remodeled building (formerly a "house of ill-repute" which Wright considered thoroughly suitable for a school of architecture) in downtown Denver. Sternberg was a forceful and demanding teacher (photo #2 EDS as intense young professor) and his students, mostly G.I.'s and many already married, worked long hours in the studios. But he was also hard-working and creative himself, and highly valued by most of the students. Thirty years after his first class graduated from the School of Architecture and Planning his students organized a reunion and wrote to him, "Gene, you taught us to dream. If we accomplished nothing it was our fault. If we have achieved anything, then we are grateful to you." (reproduce pictures from Rocky Mountain Contractor article if possible)
Although he was licensed to practice architecture in Great Britain
and in New York State, Sternberg was required to take the Colorado
licensing exams. This was not an easy assignment: English was a third language for him and it was many years since he had taken engineering courses. He spent the summer of 1948-9 in intensive study and succeeded in passing the license exam in October. Shortly thereafter, he was asked by a Littleton physician, Butler
Dr. McKenzie, to design his new medical clinic. The building was economical, simple, functional and attractive. In the following years, Sternberg received many commissions to design medical and dental clinics. Publication in national architectural magazines brought him to the attention of Reinhold, the major architectural book publisher of the time. Reinhold commissioned him, in cooperation with Seattle architect Paul H. Kirk
, to write a book on the architecture of doctors' offices and medical clinics.
, the Mile High Housing Association was formed to acquire land and create a community of contemporary, modestly-priced homes. (2 photos 1 of house with mountains and one interior of Sternberg home) Sternberg was appointed as architect for the project. Sternberg and Johnson were members of the Association, which was largely, composed of faculty members. In consultation with the membership, Sternberg developed a plan for the 11-acre alfalfa field bought by the Association. It was an opportunity to use much of his British planning background.
His subdivision plan had no through road, just a circular road of minimum width with one entrance and exit, off South Dahlia St., which provided safety for the many children who would live there. A central 2-acre "village green", with a children's playground and an open-air amphitheater served the community's needs. For economy, five plans for homes of different sizes were developed. Each house was individually sited for maximum privacy and good orientation.
Sternberg also needed to assure an adequate flow of work. He realized that architectural commissions in the major cities were largely given to long-established firms with business or "society" connections. He realized that his opportunities to secure commissions lay in the small towns and rural communities of Colorado
, Nebraska
and Wyoming
.
He began to travel extensively, speaking to community groups, meeting leaders, becoming familiar with local problems and aspirations. He genuinely liked and admired these independent Westerners. They in turn seemed to enjoy his dedication, his off-beat thinking and his passion for designing useful, economical and attractive buildings to meet their needs. But still, as he would write later, "few people came knocking at our door asking us to design their new buildings. I had to know when jobs were coming up and who were the important people to contact to be considered for them."
From 1949 to 1977 – the firm of Eugene D Sternberg and Associates designed approximately 400 projects. His clients came from small towns and rural communities in Colorado
, Nebraska
and Wyoming
as well as the greater Denver area. The firm designed schools, community colleges, hospitals and nursing homes, clinics, offices for Rural Electrification Associations, County Courthouse additions, labor union offices and churches.
Very little affordable, attractive housing for the elderly was available in Denver and it gave Sternberg great satisfaction to be involved in a number of senior housing projects. East Kentucky Homes, built in 1959, (color photo) offered a variety of accommodations from studios to 2-bedroom units, and a center with needed facilities for meal service, medical care and community gatherings. It was sponsored by a group of Protestant churches. The firm also designed in 1964 a high rise development on E. 13th Ave. and High St. for DESCI (2 b/w photos) (Denver Educational Senior Citizens, Inc.), an organization of retired Denver public school teachers. The 1962 Geneva Village (color photo) was a project in Littleton
for a national organization of retired head waiters (now owned and administered as public senior housing by the City of Littleton
.) A high rise senior housing building (1969) for the black community was part of a planned community development sponsored by Zion Baptist Church (color photo).
n 1950, Sternberg became involved for the first time in the design of public housing in Denver. He was consultant architect to Earl Morris, a long-established Denver architect, on the site plan and building design for Sun Valley Homes, a 200-unti project. Sternberg had been an outspoken critic of the Denver Public Housing Authority's projects. He fought strenuously against the rigid and demeaning limitations imposed at the time by the Housing Authority to appease the political opposition of private home builders. Public housing projects had to be built on sites no commercial homebuilder would consider for development. These sites were isolated from other housing, and the buildings had to be designed so as to look worse than the poorest private housing. In spite of these obstacles, Morris and Sternberg did achieve some limited improvements. They introduced duplexes, in contrast to the customary high-rise buildings or long barracks-like row houses that characterized most public housing of the day. The subdivision plan eliminated the conventional grid street pattern, resulting in greater intimacy and safety from traffic for the residents.
In 1954 Eugene D. Sternberg and Associates were commissioned to design Sun Valley Homes Annex, a 220-unit addition to the original Public Housing Project. (newspaper article with sketch) He regarded this as a development that fell far short of his high aspirations for successful public housing. He had to abide by the same mean-spirited limitations as in the earlier project. Homes in the Sun Valley projects were isolated and had no easy access to public transportation, shopping or community facilities. Many years later, Sternberg felt some vindication when the Denver Housing Authority decided that it had erred in not providing any community facilities for its housing projects. In 1965 he was commissioned to design five community centers - Auraria, Rude Park, Stapleton
, Curtis Park, J. Q. Newton - to rectify the error and improve the residents' quality of life. The research for this commission led to the publication of Sternberg's second architectural book, Community Centers and Student Unions, which he wrote in cooperation with his wife Barbara Sternberg.
, Pueblo
, Delta
, Greeley
.
In 1957, Sternberg was honored to receive an important commission to design the new headquarters building for the Colorado State Department of Public Health. (photo b/w) He also designed a large addition, combining office and clinic facilities, to the Tri-County Health Department Building in Englewood, Colorado
.
Sternberg also took a great interest in hospital design, believing that the character of the buildings themselves should contribute to the healing process. His earliest hospital work was for National Jewish Hospital, at first in cooperation with Denver architect Earl Morris and later on his own. He remodeled the Hospital's auditorium in 1955, (photo from magazine) designed the Friedenheit building in 1956, a new research facility in 1958, and extensively remodeled the B'Nai Brith Building in 1960. His last project for the hospital, completed in 1977, involved a major innovation, combining patient treatment with research facilities in a handsome 11-story red brick masonry building. (b/w photo)
In 1957, the Sternberg firm undertook a major addition and remodeling project for the Longmont Hospital. In 1959, a similar commission came from Craig Hospital
. 1968 brought the challenging task of remodeling and enlarging the old railroad hospital in Salida
.
The only medical project about which Sternberg felt great disappointment was the Wardenberg Student Health Center in Boulder. He had long railed publicly against the phony Romanesque
façade architecture of the Colorado University campus in Boulder
. What can professors of architecture in Boulder
do, he would ask, other than take their students for a tour of the campus and show them what not to do? A long-time champion of Sternberg's talents, Vance Austin, was elected in 1956 to the C.U. Board of Regents. Austin vowed that during his term of office, he would introduce some contemporary architecture onto the campus. He succeeded, against considerable opposition, in having the Wardenberg project awarded to Sternberg's firm, but then unexpectedly left the scene when he was appointed to head the Credit Union National Association in Wisconsin.
Sternberg was left with no political support in his fight against the traditionalist architectural dictates of the Head of the Buildings and Grounds Department. A direct appeal to C. U. President Quigg Newton, beset at the time with multiple institutional problems, failed. In the end, Sternberg had to choose between resigning the commission, which he saw as letting Vance down, and designing the health facility behind the Romanesque façade provided by a Philadelphia firm. Reluctantly he chose the latter, and rarely mentioned that he had anything to do with the project. He was quoted as saying it was his one act of architectural prostitution. Many years later, he was surprised and somewhat comforted when his neurologist son reported that he enjoyed working and seeing patients in the building.
Sternberg's last, and most significant, hospital building was a new Denver General Hospital, (3 b/w photos) for which the architect was selected though a competition conducted by the American Institute of Architects
. The entry from Sternberg and Associates was selected out of some 90 applications. The contract was awarded in 1965. During the final design and construction phase, many unexpected challenges arose and it was indeed a signal accomplishment when the project was completed on time in 1967, and under budget.
One type of building project that appealed to Eugene Sternberg was that of nursing homes. Many of these facilities had an unenviable reputation as inhospitable warehouses where chronically sick patients, especially the elderly, passed their last years unhappily. The challenge in designing nursing homes for Sternberg combined his concern for decent housing conditions for the elderly with his deep conviction that the design of the physical environment should contribute to the quality of life of residents and to their healing. His firm undertook to design appropriate facilities for three very different settings.
In 1955, a new Colorado State project, serving those elderly who had some degree of need for medical assistance, was announced. Variously named the Trinidad State Homes for the Aged and the Trinidad State Nursing Home, it was planned to care for 159 "aged persons." The concept behind the project was that of people living in a community designed to encourage mental and physical activity and social interaction, and to provide health care - including an infirmary wing - as needed. From a central core, housing kitchen, dining area, lobby and administrative offices, a series of wings radiate outward assuring each single or double room of some sunshine each day as well as a view of surrounding mountains. For some considerations important to the State Government officials, the architectural contract for this project was awarded to the Denver firm of T, H. Buell and Company, with Eugene D. Sternberg as consultant architect. But the Sternberg firm was the major designer of the project. (The project is still well-maintained and attractive, but apparently the financial projections for sustaining it have not worked out as planned. In 2011 the entire project was up for sale.)
In 1962, the Sternberg firm completed a new nursing home addition to the Mennonite Hospital in the town of La Junta in southern Colorado. This was a happy experience for Sternberg, working for a close-knit group that practiced the virtues of mutual assistance and caring for community members in need of support.
The Stovall Care Center, completed in 1977, was the nursing home component of an ambitious planned community development project sponsored by Zion Baptist Church, the oldest black church in Denver. The 30-bed facility, according to its sponsors, has "a single level floor plan, emphasizing safety and efficiency, appealing home-like environment with comfortable lounge areas and a creatively designed dining area." Earlier phases of the development were a community center and a 100-unit high rise senior housing building. At the dedication of the Stovall Center, Gene Sternberg was honored for "his incomparable skill as an architect, coupled with his unfathomable humaneness."
(Carbondale, Sterling, Craig, Steamboat Springs, Nucla), Nebraska
(Sidney, Kimball, Crawford) and Wyoming
(Lance Creek, Lusk). Almost everywhere, in fact, except for the School District of the City and County of Denver. Sternberg was a fierce critic of the limitations placed on architects by Denver in the years he was designing schools. He maintained that these prescriptions resulted in schools designed not for students, nor for teachers, but for janitors. It amused him that the only way a school of his design got into Denver was when the small College View School District, where he had done a large school addition, was annexed into the city. (photos - Carl Sandburg ES - Littleton; Kimball ES, NE)
In 1961, Sternberg decided to move his office to Littleton
where he was welcomed by Houston Waring, the influential editor of the local newspaper The Littleton
Independent. His firm designed many buildings in Littleton, including two of the most important educational projects of Sternberg's career – Arapahoe Community College
and Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
.
Arapahoe Community College (2 photos) was a long time in the making, and Sternberg was involved from the start in its creative evolution. The State of Colorado' s preference was for buying virgin land on the outskirts of the town and developing a campus of one or two-story scattered buildings, but after considering 20 different sites, Sternberg's argument that it should be located in the heart of the Littleton
community won out. A 51-acre site was developed as an urban renewal project. All the college's needs were met in one megastructure. This design approach preserved the old trees on the site, provided adequate parking, and, Sternberg believed, would promote more interaction between students and faculty of different disciplines. The building is of concrete in what is today described as the modernist style. As a community college, the facility has been highly successful. Its design has been the subject of much debate, with some students enjoying it and others characterizing it unfavorably as "Sternberg's Slab." In recent years, a large, glass-filled entrance structure has been added with the intention of softening the original, spare design.
Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
, serving 2,000 students, was considered by Sternberg to be his best school design. It had a magnificent theater, completely equipped, a complete arts and crafts department, a spacious music department, a first-class library on two levels, and a number of informal meeting areas or "commons" throughout the building. The school was built on three levels, making use of the site's 35-foot slope. All floors were accessible from the outside by the handicapped. The firm received an award for designing the first high school totally accessible to the handicapped. Going against the prevailing standard that a school of this size needed 50 acres of land, Sternberg persuaded the School Board that he could accommodate all the school's outdoor needs on one-half of this acreage. He persuaded them to spend the savings on landscaping the entire site, with grass sod, sprinkler systems and mature trees planted everywhere. Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
was a marked contrast to the typical high schools of the time, which had a small green area in front and the rest of the land covered in gravel.
Designing schools and colleges gave the Sternberg firm considerable experience in the planning of efficient, economical, user-friendly libraries. This background proved valuable when they were commissioned to design a new public library for Aurora
(black and white photo) and the Bemis public library (colored photo) in Littleton
.
in Great Falls, Montana
. The rest of the buildings were in Canada
– Richmond, Trail
, Nanaimo, Port Alberni (photo), Vancouver
- where credit unions are far more prevalent than in the U.S. Sternberg's last credit union project in Canada was an innovative master plan (black and white photo) for False Creek, a large, neglected waterfront site in Vancouver
that had been acquired by the British Columbia Central Credit Union. The plan provided for a handsome new headquarters building for B. C. Central on which Sternberg was the consultant architect (colored photo). That building was completed in 1974.
Rural Electric Associations (REA's) were another type of organization that appealed to Sternberg because of the direct and valuable service they provided to small towns and rural areas, and the active participation of users.. These organizations grew out of the New Deal decision to stimulate the provision of electricity to rural areas. The Rural Electrification Administration, created in 1935, made long-term loans to state and local governments. farmers' cooperatives, and non-profit organizations. The REA's for which the Sternberg architectural firm designed headquarters buildings were cooperatives and took him to Nucla, Delta
, Durango
, Montrose
, and Craig
. He also did a remodeling and addition project for the Inter-Mountain REA headquartered in Littleton
and for an Association serving the rural area around Grant, Nebraska
.
, an Episcopalian Church in Fort Morgan
(black and white photo) and a Methodist Church in Steamboat Springs
. For the Zion Baptist Church, the oldest black church in Denver, founded in 1867, he developed a master plan for a community enrichment project integrating a community center, high-rise senior housing building, nursing home, art center and church sanctuary with religious classrooms (black and white photo.) (As of 2011, the Church sanctuary and classroom segment had not yet been built.)
There was also a delightful building for the influential newspaper, Cervi's Journal (now the Denver Business Journal), located on Delaware Street near the Denver City and County Building. Sternberg was quite nervous when Cervi, a liberal, outspoken, temperamental newspaperman first approached him. "Why me?" he asked. "You know so many architects in Denver. I don't want to be crucified in your paper if I make a mistake – and I do make mistakes!" Cervi reassured him, "Gene, you and I will get along just fine. I want you to be my architect." The collaboration worked well and Cervi was delighted with his new facility. Unfortunately, after Cervi died and the paper was taken over by his daughter, the City of Denver decided it needed the land. The Cervi office was among the buildings razed to make room for Denver's new police building.
For Gerald Schlessman, Sternberg designed Hillcrest Apartments (black and white photo), a commercial high-rise apartment building in central Denver. He was sincerely distressed when he heard, about a year after completion of the project, that Schlessman was losing money on it and had put it up for sale. He went to talk with his client and expressed his concern. "Don't give it a thought, Gene," said Schlessman, "I can always use a loss." That reasoning went beyond Sternberg's personal financial experience. At the other end of the housing spectrum was a complex of small, economical apartment units Sternberg designed for a beautiful site overlooking the town of Steamboat Springs
. Currently, the owners of the apartments are seeking to have the project designated as having historic significance. The site is too desirable and developers have in mind the razing of the present inexpensive homes to make way for a denser development.
Eugene D. Sternberg and Associates had considerable experience working on governmental projects, federal, state, county and municipal. Designing a new regional headquarters building in Denver for the federal Food and Drug Administration
was, for Sternberg, like finding himself in the middle of a satirical farce (colored photo) about government bureaucracy. He designed the building for the chosen site, fighting battles all the way against outdated rules and regulations. Suddenly, a major defect in the site title was discovered, and a new site was purchased. The building design was adapted to the new site and final plans submitted to Washington. Nothing was heard for an extended period of time, and finally the word came down that money for the project had run out and it was being abandoned. His other federal commission went much more smoothly. This was a straightforward, attractive and functional post office for Glenwood Springs in 1964.
The experience of working for the State of Colorado was generally satisfying. In addition to the projects already mentioned - the State Public Health building in Denver and the Trinidad Old Age Homes and Nursing Home - Sternberg in 1957 remodeled several offices in the State Capitol Building, including the Governor's quarters, and designed extensive new facilities for the State Home and Training School in Grand Junction
(1958).
Sternberg celebrated the opportunities open to an architect in general practice to learn about an extraordinary variety of human activities and occupations. Designing a building for a new radio station was intriguing, as was the experience of planning a new fire station for Aurora. Remodeling the Arapahoe County
Jail illuminated some of the darker sides of the human experience, while accommodating the myriad functions to be served by a new Delta County Courthouse (newspaper article) was a rewarding planning assignment. And then there was the totally unexpected opportunity to develop a master plan for a new seaside resort in Newport, Rhode Island
, on the site of an old mansion (colored photo). Sternberg believed in the educational value of participating in architectural and planning competitions: the firm had an entry in the national competition for a memorial to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
, and submitted entries in international competitions for the design of new towns in Turkey
, Slovakia
and the Czech Republic
. And then there was a small, inexpensive little building for the Chamber of Commerce in his beloved town of Steamboat Springs
, which has recently been designated as a Historic Landmark (photo).)
with their youngest daughter.
Gene Sternberg gradually transitioned into a life of very active volunteering. He served for many years on the Jefferson County Planning Commission and was a leading member of the Evergreen Design Task Force, which worked to improve the built environment in the community. He initiated Evergreen’s efforts to enliven its landscape with a variety of strategically-placed outdoor sculpture. A small group, including both Gene and Barbara Sternberg, worked to raise funds to place a bronze sculpture by Evergreen artist Tom Ware outside the new Evergreen Library in 1993. The group decided to form an ongoing non-profit organization, Art for the Mountain Community, which has flourished.
In 1987 Gene and Barbara published a detailed, illustrated history of Evergreen. Updated editions were published in1993 and 2004 with all proceeds donated to the Evergreen Kiwanis Foundation, which makes useful annual grants to non-profit organizations in the community.
Gene Sternberg died in Evergreen on June 5, 2005, at the age of ninety.
, he was concerned to develop a regional version of what was then known as contemporary architecture
, and is today described as modernist. He designed buildings that were simple, functional, without Victorian architecture
"gingerbread" (unnecessary decoration), and using materials historically familiar. For Colorado
, this meant brick - especially red brick - sandstone, and wood. Some have described this period of Sternberg's architecture as Usonia
n," the term used to describe Frank Lloyd Wright
's domestic architecture. Though Sternberg held many architectural goals in common with Wright, he felt his own design style originated more from his experience in Britain, and his interest in creating clean, functional and economical buildings, than from any other influences. For a few of his late, large-scale projects like Arapahoe Community College
and Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
, he enthusiastically adopted a modified International Style
(also at the time called "Brutalist") using concrete as the major building material, believing that this best suited the functions of these particular buildings. However one of his last buildings, the high-rise patient care and research building for National Jewish Hospital, has a strikingly simple, warm red brick exterior.
Early years
Sternberg was born in the middle of the First World War in BratislavaBratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, where his family had moved to be with his father as he served in the Austro-Hungarian army. When the war, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ended in 1918, the family moved back to their home in Munkacs in the province of Ruthenia
Ruthenia
Ruthenia is the Latin word used onwards from the 13th century, describing lands of the Ancient Rus in European manuscripts. Its geographic and culturo-ethnic name at that time was applied to the parts of Eastern Europe. Essentially, the word is a false Latin rendering of the ancient place name Rus...
, which in 1920 became part of the new country of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
.
During his elementary and high school education. Sternberg's major passion was art. He developed into an accomplished young artist and won a coveted place to study architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. In the summers he worked for two architectural firms in Munkacs (his first built project was a small tobacco kiosk next to the City Hall!) and for a well-known Czech architect, Frantisek Libra, in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. In 1938, he earned a first degree in architecture/engineering. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's Germany occupied Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
in March, 1939. Because he was offered a scholarship to the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
's at The Bartlett
The Bartlett
The Bartlett is the Faculty of the Built Environment at University College London. University College London created the first chair of architecture in 1841, and the school is named after the original benefactor, Sir Herbert Bartlett.-External links:*...
School of Architecture Sternberg was fortunate to leave Czechoslovakia in 1939, the only one of his large Jewish family to be able to do so.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out in September, 1939, the Bartlett
The Bartlett
The Bartlett is the Faculty of the Built Environment at University College London. University College London created the first chair of architecture in 1841, and the school is named after the original benefactor, Sir Herbert Bartlett.-External links:*...
School was evacuated to Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
where Sternberg studied from 1939-1944, completing his architectural qualifications and a graduate degree in town planning and working to contribute to the war effort. His mentor in town planning was Sir Patrick Abercrombie
Patrick Abercrombie
Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie ) was an English town planner. Educated at Uppingham School, Rutland; brother of Lascelles Abercrombie, poet and literary critic.-Career:...
(use scanned photo with news article) who was, at that time, Britain's busiest and most imaginative planner.
After graduation, Sternberg was invited to join Abercrombie's firm in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he worked mainly on planning new neighborhoods to replace the housing destroyed by German bombing. Sternberg also taught part-time at Cambridge University, the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and the Regent Street Polytechnic. As the war drew to an end, Sternberg and Barbara Edwards, his British fiancée, decided to emigrate to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. To accomplish this, they each had to secure a job in the U.S. Sternberg was offered a three-year contract to teach city planning at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. Barbara secured a position at the British Information Services in Manhattan. Gene and Barbara were married in Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
in the fall of 1946, but Sternberg soon became dissatisfied with the general lack of creative activity in Cornell's architectural and planning departments, and more particularly, when he found that full-time faculty members were forbidden to practice. Sternberg resigned from the prestigious university after three months and took on the challenges of a newcomer in an unfamiliar country, wit no job and few professional contacts. However, Sternberg's background and qualifications appealed to Carl Feiss, Director of a new School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Denver, where Sternberg became Associate Professor of Design. The Sternbergs, with a six weeks old baby, took their first ever flight in August of 1947 to a new home in a city and state of which they had never heard. (photo: EDS with students)
A brand new start
The Sternbergs' moved to the Denver University Campus. The curriculum of the new University of Denver school was unique, in combining training in both architecture and city planning. It was distinguished by the number of practicing architects on its faculty. The school's approach to architecture enticed Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
to accept an invitation sent by the students to visit the new Denver School.
The Architecture School was housed in a remodeled building (formerly a "house of ill-repute" which Wright considered thoroughly suitable for a school of architecture) in downtown Denver. Sternberg was a forceful and demanding teacher (photo #2 EDS as intense young professor) and his students, mostly G.I.'s and many already married, worked long hours in the studios. But he was also hard-working and creative himself, and highly valued by most of the students. Thirty years after his first class graduated from the School of Architecture and Planning his students organized a reunion and wrote to him, "Gene, you taught us to dream. If we accomplished nothing it was our fault. If we have achieved anything, then we are grateful to you." (reproduce pictures from Rocky Mountain Contractor article if possible)
Although he was licensed to practice architecture in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and in New York State, Sternberg was required to take the Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
licensing exams. This was not an easy assignment: English was a third language for him and it was many years since he had taken engineering courses. He spent the summer of 1948-9 in intensive study and succeeded in passing the license exam in October. Shortly thereafter, he was asked by a Littleton physician, Butler
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
Dr. McKenzie, to design his new medical clinic. The building was economical, simple, functional and attractive. In the following years, Sternberg received many commissions to design medical and dental clinics. Publication in national architectural magazines brought him to the attention of Reinhold, the major architectural book publisher of the time. Reinhold commissioned him, in cooperation with Seattle architect Paul H. Kirk
Paul H. Kirk
Paul Hayden Kirk was among the most significant Pacific Northwest architects from 1945 to 1980. Paul Kirk's designs contributed to development of a regionally appropriate version of Modern architecture...
, to write a book on the architecture of doctors' offices and medical clinics.
Planning and subsivisions
In 1949, Sternberg embarked on another challenging commission. Denver was growing, little new housing had been built during the war years, and affordable housing available to modestly-paid Denver University faculty members was virtually non-existent. Under the leadership of Economics Professor Byron L. JohnsonByron L. Johnson
Byron Lindberg Johnson was an economist and U.S. Representative from Colorado.-Early life and education:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Johnson graduated from Oconomowoc High School, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, in 1933. He earned his B.A. at University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1938, and completed his M.A. ...
, the Mile High Housing Association was formed to acquire land and create a community of contemporary, modestly-priced homes. (2 photos 1 of house with mountains and one interior of Sternberg home) Sternberg was appointed as architect for the project. Sternberg and Johnson were members of the Association, which was largely, composed of faculty members. In consultation with the membership, Sternberg developed a plan for the 11-acre alfalfa field bought by the Association. It was an opportunity to use much of his British planning background.
His subdivision plan had no through road, just a circular road of minimum width with one entrance and exit, off South Dahlia St., which provided safety for the many children who would live there. A central 2-acre "village green", with a children's playground and an open-air amphitheater served the community's needs. For economy, five plans for homes of different sizes were developed. Each house was individually sited for maximum privacy and good orientation.
Arapahoe Acres
- While taking bids for building the Mile High Housing Project, Sternberg met developer Edward Hawkins who commissioned Sternberg to plan the subdivision layout and design the first homes for Arapahoe AcresArapahoe AcresArapahoe Acres is a neighborhood bounded by East Bates & East Dartmouth Avenues, and South Marion & South Franklin Streets in Englewood, Colorado. Built from 1949 to 1957 it provides great samples of new patterns developed for residential neighborhoods after World War II.- External links :*...
(photos from magazine article), a development he was undertaking in Englewood. It was the first large project of contemporary homes, of many sizes, designs and costs, to be built in Denver. The Revere Copper CompanyRevere Copper CompanyThe Revere Copper Company was North America's first rolled copper mill. It was started by Paul Revere in 1801 in Canton, Massachusetts and developed a commercially viable process for manufacturing copper sheets....
at the time was looking for a high-quality residential development to sponsor in Denver, something it was doing in selected cities throughout the country. They chose Arapahoe Acres. Their sponsorship also involved designating one house in the subdivision as the "Revere Home" in ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
.
- Sternberg’s site plan was "intended to keep the amount of land used by roads to a minimum, to utilize southern exposure for solar heat, and at the same time gain a view of the Rocky MountainsRocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
to the west and to group the houses for privacy." . To achieve these design objectives Sternberg introduced curved streets, minimal neigborhood access points, while orienting a majority of the houses at an angle to the street. These design elements minimized traffic and service disruptions, provided orientation for greater southern exposure and a corresonding improvement for western vistas of the Rocky MountainsRocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
.
- Sternberg designed a single floor plan for the nine model homes. "The construction is brick, insulated, cavity wall to a uniform sill height (with inner brick wythe exposed as an interior finish), and glass or insulated core plywood panels above the sill. Windows are aluminum casement; roofing is tar and gravel; flooring is apshalt tile; fiber insluating tile with an integral finish forms the ceilings. Heat is gas-fired hot air, fed through tile ducts to strip wall registers." . Sternberg extended the variations of the basic plan by altering orientation to the street, the house's position on the lot and the details of the entrance and carport. On principle, Sternberg deisgned to attract a cross section of society to the development.
- It was these principles and the very success of the debut of Arapahoe Acres that led to a parting of the ways between Sternberg and Hawkins. Sternberg was disturbed by the prevailing view that contemporary design was the province of the wealthy elite. He was intensely interested and committed to proving that good design could be as economical as traditional home building. The two men had agreed on the price for which the model home would be sold. But when Hawkins received an offer for considerably more – he accepted it! Sternberg felt betrayed and severed his connection with the project. (He later acknowledged the naiveté of his reaction.) Hawkins, a talented designer himself, completed the project using the design services of Joseph Dion, one of Sternberg's most capable students.
- Arapahoe Acres has retained its design integrity to this day. It has been well cared for and benefited from the persistent advocacy of one resident, Diane Wray. "On November 3, 1998, Arapahoe AcresArapahoe AcresArapahoe Acres is a neighborhood bounded by East Bates & East Dartmouth Avenues, and South Marion & South Franklin Streets in Englewood, Colorado. Built from 1949 to 1957 it provides great samples of new patterns developed for residential neighborhoods after World War II.- External links :*...
became the first, and remains today the only, post-World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
residential subdivision listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as a National Register Historic District."
- Sternberg's success with the Mile Hi Housing Association and Arapahoe Acres paved the way for other opportunities to design other subdivisions in the Denver area (Mountain Rangeview, 1954 (photos Mayo House interior and Miller house exterior)) and Orchard Hills, 1961 (photos Holmes House exterior and Sternberg house exterior and interior), and in other cities, including one as far away as Harlingen, TexasHarlingen, TexasHarlingen is a city in Cameron County in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, United States, about from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The city covers more than , and is the second largest city in Cameron County and the sixth largest in the Rio Grande Valley...
.
Building the practice
In 1952 Denver University, chronically short of money, decided that for financial reasons it must close the School of Architecture and Planning - despite its fine national reputation and demonstrated ability to attract new students. Sternberg was deeply disappointed by the decision, but it came at an opportune time for him personally. His practice was growing. He built a first class team of associates, including John Schaffer, Helmut Young and J. D. Willis. (photo with EDS, John Schaffer and Helmut Young -1954)Sternberg also needed to assure an adequate flow of work. He realized that architectural commissions in the major cities were largely given to long-established firms with business or "society" connections. He realized that his opportunities to secure commissions lay in the small towns and rural communities of Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
.
He began to travel extensively, speaking to community groups, meeting leaders, becoming familiar with local problems and aspirations. He genuinely liked and admired these independent Westerners. They in turn seemed to enjoy his dedication, his off-beat thinking and his passion for designing useful, economical and attractive buildings to meet their needs. But still, as he would write later, "few people came knocking at our door asking us to design their new buildings. I had to know when jobs were coming up and who were the important people to contact to be considered for them."
From 1949 to 1977 – the firm of Eugene D Sternberg and Associates designed approximately 400 projects. His clients came from small towns and rural communities in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
as well as the greater Denver area. The firm designed schools, community colleges, hospitals and nursing homes, clinics, offices for Rural Electrification Associations, County Courthouse additions, labor union offices and churches.
Housing
In 1962 Sternberg participated in a competition for the design of Avondale (photo color of Avondale project), a large urban renewal project in Denver. His design was the first choice of the Denver Planning Department staff, but was not the one selected by the Planning Commission.Very little affordable, attractive housing for the elderly was available in Denver and it gave Sternberg great satisfaction to be involved in a number of senior housing projects. East Kentucky Homes, built in 1959, (color photo) offered a variety of accommodations from studios to 2-bedroom units, and a center with needed facilities for meal service, medical care and community gatherings. It was sponsored by a group of Protestant churches. The firm also designed in 1964 a high rise development on E. 13th Ave. and High St. for DESCI (2 b/w photos) (Denver Educational Senior Citizens, Inc.), an organization of retired Denver public school teachers. The 1962 Geneva Village (color photo) was a project in Littleton
Littleton
Littleton may refer to one of several places:In Ireland:*Littleton, County TipperaryIn the United Kingdom:*Littleton, Cheshire*Littleton, Hampshire*Littleton, Somerset*High Littleton, Somerset*Littleton, Guildford, Surrey...
for a national organization of retired head waiters (now owned and administered as public senior housing by the City of Littleton
Littleton
Littleton may refer to one of several places:In Ireland:*Littleton, County TipperaryIn the United Kingdom:*Littleton, Cheshire*Littleton, Hampshire*Littleton, Somerset*High Littleton, Somerset*Littleton, Guildford, Surrey...
.) A high rise senior housing building (1969) for the black community was part of a planned community development sponsored by Zion Baptist Church (color photo).
n 1950, Sternberg became involved for the first time in the design of public housing in Denver. He was consultant architect to Earl Morris, a long-established Denver architect, on the site plan and building design for Sun Valley Homes, a 200-unti project. Sternberg had been an outspoken critic of the Denver Public Housing Authority's projects. He fought strenuously against the rigid and demeaning limitations imposed at the time by the Housing Authority to appease the political opposition of private home builders. Public housing projects had to be built on sites no commercial homebuilder would consider for development. These sites were isolated from other housing, and the buildings had to be designed so as to look worse than the poorest private housing. In spite of these obstacles, Morris and Sternberg did achieve some limited improvements. They introduced duplexes, in contrast to the customary high-rise buildings or long barracks-like row houses that characterized most public housing of the day. The subdivision plan eliminated the conventional grid street pattern, resulting in greater intimacy and safety from traffic for the residents.
In 1954 Eugene D. Sternberg and Associates were commissioned to design Sun Valley Homes Annex, a 220-unit addition to the original Public Housing Project. (newspaper article with sketch) He regarded this as a development that fell far short of his high aspirations for successful public housing. He had to abide by the same mean-spirited limitations as in the earlier project. Homes in the Sun Valley projects were isolated and had no easy access to public transportation, shopping or community facilities. Many years later, Sternberg felt some vindication when the Denver Housing Authority decided that it had erred in not providing any community facilities for its housing projects. In 1965 he was commissioned to design five community centers - Auraria, Rude Park, Stapleton
Stapleton International Airport
Stapleton International Airport was Denver, Colorado's primary airport from 1929 to 1995. At different times it served as a hub for TWA, People Express, Frontier Airlines and Western Airlines as well as a hub for Continental Airlines and United Airlines at the time of its closure.In 1995 Stapleton...
, Curtis Park, J. Q. Newton - to rectify the error and improve the residents' quality of life. The research for this commission led to the publication of Sternberg's second architectural book, Community Centers and Student Unions, which he wrote in cooperation with his wife Barbara Sternberg.
Medical buildings: clinics, nursing homes, hospitals
As was mentioned earlier, some of the earliest architectural commissions received by the Sternberg firm were for the design of medical clinics. Over the years, commissions continued to come to the firm for medical and dental clinics both in the Denver area, and for other communities including: ThorntonThornton, Colorado
The city of Thornton is a Home Rule Municipality in Adams and Weld counties in the U.S. state of Colorado and a suburb of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thornton is northeast of the state's capital, Denver. The United States Census Bureau that the city population...
, Pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
, Delta
Delta, Colorado
The City of Delta is the county seat and the most populous city of Delta County, Colorado, United States. The population was 8,915 at the 2010 census...
, Greeley
Greeley, Colorado
The City of Greeley is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Weld County, Colorado, United States. Greeley is located in the region known as Northern Colorado. Greeley is situated north-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. According to the...
.
In 1957, Sternberg was honored to receive an important commission to design the new headquarters building for the Colorado State Department of Public Health. (photo b/w) He also designed a large addition, combining office and clinic facilities, to the Tri-County Health Department Building in Englewood, Colorado
Englewood, Colorado
The city of Englewood is a Home Rule Municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. As of 2007, the city is estimated to have a total population of 32,532. Englewood is part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area. Englewood is located in the South Platte River Valley east of the...
.
Sternberg also took a great interest in hospital design, believing that the character of the buildings themselves should contribute to the healing process. His earliest hospital work was for National Jewish Hospital, at first in cooperation with Denver architect Earl Morris and later on his own. He remodeled the Hospital's auditorium in 1955, (photo from magazine) designed the Friedenheit building in 1956, a new research facility in 1958, and extensively remodeled the B'Nai Brith Building in 1960. His last project for the hospital, completed in 1977, involved a major innovation, combining patient treatment with research facilities in a handsome 11-story red brick masonry building. (b/w photo)
In 1957, the Sternberg firm undertook a major addition and remodeling project for the Longmont Hospital. In 1959, a similar commission came from Craig Hospital
Craig Hospital
Craig Hospital is a Rehabilitation Hospital in Englewood, Colorado specializing in Spinal cord injury and Traumatic Brain Injury . It has consistently been ranked in the Top Ten Rehabilitation Hospitals in the U.S. by U.S...
. 1968 brought the challenging task of remodeling and enlarging the old railroad hospital in Salida
Salida, Colorado
The City of Salida is a Statutory City that is the county seat and most populous city of Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. The population was 5,504 at the U.S. Census 2000.-History:800px|thumb|left| Panoramic View of Salida, 1910...
.
The only medical project about which Sternberg felt great disappointment was the Wardenberg Student Health Center in Boulder. He had long railed publicly against the phony Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
façade architecture of the Colorado University campus in Boulder
Boulder
In geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size of usually no less than 256 mm diameter. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive....
. What can professors of architecture in Boulder
Boulder
In geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size of usually no less than 256 mm diameter. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive....
do, he would ask, other than take their students for a tour of the campus and show them what not to do? A long-time champion of Sternberg's talents, Vance Austin, was elected in 1956 to the C.U. Board of Regents. Austin vowed that during his term of office, he would introduce some contemporary architecture onto the campus. He succeeded, against considerable opposition, in having the Wardenberg project awarded to Sternberg's firm, but then unexpectedly left the scene when he was appointed to head the Credit Union National Association in Wisconsin.
Sternberg was left with no political support in his fight against the traditionalist architectural dictates of the Head of the Buildings and Grounds Department. A direct appeal to C. U. President Quigg Newton, beset at the time with multiple institutional problems, failed. In the end, Sternberg had to choose between resigning the commission, which he saw as letting Vance down, and designing the health facility behind the Romanesque façade provided by a Philadelphia firm. Reluctantly he chose the latter, and rarely mentioned that he had anything to do with the project. He was quoted as saying it was his one act of architectural prostitution. Many years later, he was surprised and somewhat comforted when his neurologist son reported that he enjoyed working and seeing patients in the building.
Sternberg's last, and most significant, hospital building was a new Denver General Hospital, (3 b/w photos) for which the architect was selected though a competition conducted by the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
. The entry from Sternberg and Associates was selected out of some 90 applications. The contract was awarded in 1965. During the final design and construction phase, many unexpected challenges arose and it was indeed a signal accomplishment when the project was completed on time in 1967, and under budget.
One type of building project that appealed to Eugene Sternberg was that of nursing homes. Many of these facilities had an unenviable reputation as inhospitable warehouses where chronically sick patients, especially the elderly, passed their last years unhappily. The challenge in designing nursing homes for Sternberg combined his concern for decent housing conditions for the elderly with his deep conviction that the design of the physical environment should contribute to the quality of life of residents and to their healing. His firm undertook to design appropriate facilities for three very different settings.
In 1955, a new Colorado State project, serving those elderly who had some degree of need for medical assistance, was announced. Variously named the Trinidad State Homes for the Aged and the Trinidad State Nursing Home, it was planned to care for 159 "aged persons." The concept behind the project was that of people living in a community designed to encourage mental and physical activity and social interaction, and to provide health care - including an infirmary wing - as needed. From a central core, housing kitchen, dining area, lobby and administrative offices, a series of wings radiate outward assuring each single or double room of some sunshine each day as well as a view of surrounding mountains. For some considerations important to the State Government officials, the architectural contract for this project was awarded to the Denver firm of T, H. Buell and Company, with Eugene D. Sternberg as consultant architect. But the Sternberg firm was the major designer of the project. (The project is still well-maintained and attractive, but apparently the financial projections for sustaining it have not worked out as planned. In 2011 the entire project was up for sale.)
In 1962, the Sternberg firm completed a new nursing home addition to the Mennonite Hospital in the town of La Junta in southern Colorado. This was a happy experience for Sternberg, working for a close-knit group that practiced the virtues of mutual assistance and caring for community members in need of support.
The Stovall Care Center, completed in 1977, was the nursing home component of an ambitious planned community development project sponsored by Zion Baptist Church, the oldest black church in Denver. The 30-bed facility, according to its sponsors, has "a single level floor plan, emphasizing safety and efficiency, appealing home-like environment with comfortable lounge areas and a creatively designed dining area." Earlier phases of the development were a community center and a 100-unit high rise senior housing building. At the dedication of the Stovall Center, Gene Sternberg was honored for "his incomparable skill as an architect, coupled with his unfathomable humaneness."
Buildings for education and cultural enrichment
The design of public schools, those institutions which educate and deeply influence our next generation of young men and women, was a matter of lively interest and constant research for architect Sternberg. Throughout the years of his practice, starting with a small experimental primary school in Englewood in 1952, there were always one or more schools in the design process or under construction. Almost 40 in all, these included many sizes of elementary, junior high and high schools, located in the Denver metro area (Englewood, Littleton, Sheridan, Jefferson County, Cherry Creek District) and in small towns throughout ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
(Carbondale, Sterling, Craig, Steamboat Springs, Nucla), Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
(Sidney, Kimball, Crawford) and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
(Lance Creek, Lusk). Almost everywhere, in fact, except for the School District of the City and County of Denver. Sternberg was a fierce critic of the limitations placed on architects by Denver in the years he was designing schools. He maintained that these prescriptions resulted in schools designed not for students, nor for teachers, but for janitors. It amused him that the only way a school of his design got into Denver was when the small College View School District, where he had done a large school addition, was annexed into the city. (photos - Carl Sandburg ES - Littleton; Kimball ES, NE)
In 1961, Sternberg decided to move his office to Littleton
Littleton
Littleton may refer to one of several places:In Ireland:*Littleton, County TipperaryIn the United Kingdom:*Littleton, Cheshire*Littleton, Hampshire*Littleton, Somerset*High Littleton, Somerset*Littleton, Guildford, Surrey...
where he was welcomed by Houston Waring, the influential editor of the local newspaper The Littleton
Littleton
Littleton may refer to one of several places:In Ireland:*Littleton, County TipperaryIn the United Kingdom:*Littleton, Cheshire*Littleton, Hampshire*Littleton, Somerset*High Littleton, Somerset*Littleton, Guildford, Surrey...
Independent. His firm designed many buildings in Littleton, including two of the most important educational projects of Sternberg's career – Arapahoe Community College
Arapahoe Community College
Founded in 1965, Arapahoe Community College was the first community college to open in the Denver area. What began as Arapahoe Junior College with 550 students, has grown into a vibrant community college serving over 18,000 credit and non-credit students yearly.The College now offers over 100...
and Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
Heritage High School, in Littleton, Colorado was completed in 1972 as the last of three high schools in the Littleton Public Schools system. It was rated by Newsweek magazine as one of the top 200 high schools in the United States, and the Denver-based 5280 magazine acknowledged Heritage High...
.
Arapahoe Community College (2 photos) was a long time in the making, and Sternberg was involved from the start in its creative evolution. The State of Colorado' s preference was for buying virgin land on the outskirts of the town and developing a campus of one or two-story scattered buildings, but after considering 20 different sites, Sternberg's argument that it should be located in the heart of the Littleton
Littleton
Littleton may refer to one of several places:In Ireland:*Littleton, County TipperaryIn the United Kingdom:*Littleton, Cheshire*Littleton, Hampshire*Littleton, Somerset*High Littleton, Somerset*Littleton, Guildford, Surrey...
community won out. A 51-acre site was developed as an urban renewal project. All the college's needs were met in one megastructure. This design approach preserved the old trees on the site, provided adequate parking, and, Sternberg believed, would promote more interaction between students and faculty of different disciplines. The building is of concrete in what is today described as the modernist style. As a community college, the facility has been highly successful. Its design has been the subject of much debate, with some students enjoying it and others characterizing it unfavorably as "Sternberg's Slab." In recent years, a large, glass-filled entrance structure has been added with the intention of softening the original, spare design.
Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
Heritage High School, in Littleton, Colorado was completed in 1972 as the last of three high schools in the Littleton Public Schools system. It was rated by Newsweek magazine as one of the top 200 high schools in the United States, and the Denver-based 5280 magazine acknowledged Heritage High...
, serving 2,000 students, was considered by Sternberg to be his best school design. It had a magnificent theater, completely equipped, a complete arts and crafts department, a spacious music department, a first-class library on two levels, and a number of informal meeting areas or "commons" throughout the building. The school was built on three levels, making use of the site's 35-foot slope. All floors were accessible from the outside by the handicapped. The firm received an award for designing the first high school totally accessible to the handicapped. Going against the prevailing standard that a school of this size needed 50 acres of land, Sternberg persuaded the School Board that he could accommodate all the school's outdoor needs on one-half of this acreage. He persuaded them to spend the savings on landscaping the entire site, with grass sod, sprinkler systems and mature trees planted everywhere. Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
Heritage High School, in Littleton, Colorado was completed in 1972 as the last of three high schools in the Littleton Public Schools system. It was rated by Newsweek magazine as one of the top 200 high schools in the United States, and the Denver-based 5280 magazine acknowledged Heritage High...
was a marked contrast to the typical high schools of the time, which had a small green area in front and the rest of the land covered in gravel.
Designing schools and colleges gave the Sternberg firm considerable experience in the planning of efficient, economical, user-friendly libraries. This background proved valuable when they were commissioned to design a new public library for Aurora
Aurora, Colorado
City of Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality spanning Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties in Colorado. Aurora is an eastern suburb of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area . The city is the third most populous city in the Colorado and the 56th most populous city in the...
(black and white photo) and the Bemis public library (colored photo) in Littleton
Littleton
Littleton may refer to one of several places:In Ireland:*Littleton, County TipperaryIn the United Kingdom:*Littleton, Cheshire*Littleton, Hampshire*Littleton, Somerset*High Littleton, Somerset*Littleton, Guildford, Surrey...
.
Buildings for credit unions and rural electric associations
One category of buildings which involved Sternberg in many new relationships and communities was that of credit unions, which some have called "peoples' banks." His first design in this category was for Malmstrom Air Force BaseMalmstrom Air Force Base
Malmstrom Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place in Cascade County, Montana, United States. It was named in honor of World War II POW Colonel Einar Axel Malmstrom...
in Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 58,505 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County...
. The rest of the buildings were in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
– Richmond, Trail
Trail
A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...
, Nanaimo, Port Alberni (photo), Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
- where credit unions are far more prevalent than in the U.S. Sternberg's last credit union project in Canada was an innovative master plan (black and white photo) for False Creek, a large, neglected waterfront site in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
that had been acquired by the British Columbia Central Credit Union. The plan provided for a handsome new headquarters building for B. C. Central on which Sternberg was the consultant architect (colored photo). That building was completed in 1974.
Rural Electric Associations (REA's) were another type of organization that appealed to Sternberg because of the direct and valuable service they provided to small towns and rural areas, and the active participation of users.. These organizations grew out of the New Deal decision to stimulate the provision of electricity to rural areas. The Rural Electrification Administration, created in 1935, made long-term loans to state and local governments. farmers' cooperatives, and non-profit organizations. The REA's for which the Sternberg architectural firm designed headquarters buildings were cooperatives and took him to Nucla, Delta
Delta, Colorado
The City of Delta is the county seat and the most populous city of Delta County, Colorado, United States. The population was 8,915 at the 2010 census...
, Durango
Durango
Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...
, Montrose
Montrose, Colorado
The City of Montrose is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Montrose County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 15,479 in 2005. The main road that leads in and out of Montrose is U.S...
, and Craig
Craig, Colorado
The City of Craig is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Moffat County, Colorado, United States. The population was 9,189 at the 2000 census...
. He also did a remodeling and addition project for the Inter-Mountain REA headquartered in Littleton
Littleton
Littleton may refer to one of several places:In Ireland:*Littleton, County TipperaryIn the United Kingdom:*Littleton, Cheshire*Littleton, Hampshire*Littleton, Somerset*High Littleton, Somerset*Littleton, Guildford, Surrey...
and for an Association serving the rural area around Grant, Nebraska
Grant, Nebraska
Grant is a city in, and county seat of, Perkins County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,225 at the 2000 census-Geography:Grant is located at ....
.
Religious projects
Though he did not pursue opportunities to design religious buildings, a few commissions in this area were offered to Sternberg and he embraced them enthusiastically. Over the years he designed a Baptist Church and a Synagogue in Denver (black and white photo of Temple Micah), a Congregational Church campus in LittletonLittleton
Littleton may refer to one of several places:In Ireland:*Littleton, County TipperaryIn the United Kingdom:*Littleton, Cheshire*Littleton, Hampshire*Littleton, Somerset*High Littleton, Somerset*Littleton, Guildford, Surrey...
, an Episcopalian Church in Fort Morgan
Fort Morgan, Colorado
The City of Fort Morgan is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Morgan County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the city population was 10,844 in 2005.-History:...
(black and white photo) and a Methodist Church in Steamboat Springs
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
The city of Steamboat Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Routt County, Colorado, United States. The city is also known as "Steamboat," "The Boat," or "Ski Town USA". As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,088.The city is an...
. For the Zion Baptist Church, the oldest black church in Denver, founded in 1867, he developed a master plan for a community enrichment project integrating a community center, high-rise senior housing building, nursing home, art center and church sanctuary with religious classrooms (black and white photo.) (As of 2011, the Church sanctuary and classroom segment had not yet been built.)
A variety of other projects and buildings
A cursory survey of the work of architect Sternberg during his years of intensive practice shows that he did some 45-50 projects that did not fit into any of the categories covered so far. He designed half a dozen office buildings, including one for the Hirschfield Press, another jointly for the Mayo accounting firm and businessman and philanthropist Gerald Schlessman, where Sternberg had his own office for a time, and two for the Prudential Insurance Company, one of which is today an attractive restaurant in the Cherry Creek area. Perhaps the most successful from a design point of view were the Law Offices of Martin Miller on Littleton Boulevard.There was also a delightful building for the influential newspaper, Cervi's Journal (now the Denver Business Journal), located on Delaware Street near the Denver City and County Building. Sternberg was quite nervous when Cervi, a liberal, outspoken, temperamental newspaperman first approached him. "Why me?" he asked. "You know so many architects in Denver. I don't want to be crucified in your paper if I make a mistake – and I do make mistakes!" Cervi reassured him, "Gene, you and I will get along just fine. I want you to be my architect." The collaboration worked well and Cervi was delighted with his new facility. Unfortunately, after Cervi died and the paper was taken over by his daughter, the City of Denver decided it needed the land. The Cervi office was among the buildings razed to make room for Denver's new police building.
For Gerald Schlessman, Sternberg designed Hillcrest Apartments (black and white photo), a commercial high-rise apartment building in central Denver. He was sincerely distressed when he heard, about a year after completion of the project, that Schlessman was losing money on it and had put it up for sale. He went to talk with his client and expressed his concern. "Don't give it a thought, Gene," said Schlessman, "I can always use a loss." That reasoning went beyond Sternberg's personal financial experience. At the other end of the housing spectrum was a complex of small, economical apartment units Sternberg designed for a beautiful site overlooking the town of Steamboat Springs
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
The city of Steamboat Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Routt County, Colorado, United States. The city is also known as "Steamboat," "The Boat," or "Ski Town USA". As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,088.The city is an...
. Currently, the owners of the apartments are seeking to have the project designated as having historic significance. The site is too desirable and developers have in mind the razing of the present inexpensive homes to make way for a denser development.
Eugene D. Sternberg and Associates had considerable experience working on governmental projects, federal, state, county and municipal. Designing a new regional headquarters building in Denver for the federal Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
was, for Sternberg, like finding himself in the middle of a satirical farce (colored photo) about government bureaucracy. He designed the building for the chosen site, fighting battles all the way against outdated rules and regulations. Suddenly, a major defect in the site title was discovered, and a new site was purchased. The building design was adapted to the new site and final plans submitted to Washington. Nothing was heard for an extended period of time, and finally the word came down that money for the project had run out and it was being abandoned. His other federal commission went much more smoothly. This was a straightforward, attractive and functional post office for Glenwood Springs in 1964.
The experience of working for the State of Colorado was generally satisfying. In addition to the projects already mentioned - the State Public Health building in Denver and the Trinidad Old Age Homes and Nursing Home - Sternberg in 1957 remodeled several offices in the State Capitol Building, including the Governor's quarters, and designed extensive new facilities for the State Home and Training School in Grand Junction
Grand Junction, Colorado
The City of Grand Junction is the largest city in western Colorado. It is a city with a council–manager government form that is the county seat and the most populous city of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. Grand Junction is situated west-southwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. As...
(1958).
Sternberg celebrated the opportunities open to an architect in general practice to learn about an extraordinary variety of human activities and occupations. Designing a building for a new radio station was intriguing, as was the experience of planning a new fire station for Aurora. Remodeling the Arapahoe County
Arapahoe County, Colorado
As of the census of 2000, there were 487,967 people, 190,909 households, and 125,809 families residing in the county. The population density was 608 people per square mile . There were 196,835 housing units at an average density of 245 per square mile...
Jail illuminated some of the darker sides of the human experience, while accommodating the myriad functions to be served by a new Delta County Courthouse (newspaper article) was a rewarding planning assignment. And then there was the totally unexpected opportunity to develop a master plan for a new seaside resort in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, on the site of an old mansion (colored photo). Sternberg believed in the educational value of participating in architectural and planning competitions: the firm had an entry in the national competition for a memorial to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, and submitted entries in international competitions for the design of new towns in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
and the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. And then there was a small, inexpensive little building for the Chamber of Commerce in his beloved town of Steamboat Springs
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
The city of Steamboat Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Routt County, Colorado, United States. The city is also known as "Steamboat," "The Boat," or "Ski Town USA". As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,088.The city is an...
, which has recently been designated as a Historic Landmark (photo).)
Transitioning from architectural practice
As their Sternberg household dwindled down from eight members to three, Eugene began the transition from his professional practice to a new role and a new "hometown." Since 1949, the Sternbergs had enjoyed spending time in summer in a cabin they built in Evergreen, 30 miles into the foothills west of Denver. By 1970, Evergreen was in the process of transformation from a small mountain summer resort to a year-round community within commuting distance of Denver. The Sternbergs sold the cherished home that Eugene had designed for the family in Orchard Hills, and moved into an old log house on the banks of Evergreen's Upper Bear Creek, ColoradoUpper Bear Creek, Colorado
Upper Bear Creek is a census-designated place in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 1,059....
with their youngest daughter.
Gene Sternberg gradually transitioned into a life of very active volunteering. He served for many years on the Jefferson County Planning Commission and was a leading member of the Evergreen Design Task Force, which worked to improve the built environment in the community. He initiated Evergreen’s efforts to enliven its landscape with a variety of strategically-placed outdoor sculpture. A small group, including both Gene and Barbara Sternberg, worked to raise funds to place a bronze sculpture by Evergreen artist Tom Ware outside the new Evergreen Library in 1993. The group decided to form an ongoing non-profit organization, Art for the Mountain Community, which has flourished.
In 1987 Gene and Barbara published a detailed, illustrated history of Evergreen. Updated editions were published in1993 and 2004 with all proceeds donated to the Evergreen Kiwanis Foundation, which makes useful annual grants to non-profit organizations in the community.
Gene Sternberg died in Evergreen on June 5, 2005, at the age of ninety.
Sternberg's arhitectural style
When Sternberg started his practice in ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, he was concerned to develop a regional version of what was then known as contemporary architecture
Contemporary architecture
Contemporary architecture is generally speaking the architecture of the present time.The term contemporary architecture is also applied to a range of styles of recently built structures and space which are optimized for current use....
, and is today described as modernist. He designed buildings that were simple, functional, without Victorian architecture
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
"gingerbread" (unnecessary decoration), and using materials historically familiar. For Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, this meant brick - especially red brick - sandstone, and wood. Some have described this period of Sternberg's architecture as Usonia
Usonia
Usonia was a word used by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to his vision for the landscape of the United States, including the planning of cities and the architecture of buildings...
n," the term used to describe Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
's domestic architecture. Though Sternberg held many architectural goals in common with Wright, he felt his own design style originated more from his experience in Britain, and his interest in creating clean, functional and economical buildings, than from any other influences. For a few of his late, large-scale projects like Arapahoe Community College
Arapahoe Community College
Founded in 1965, Arapahoe Community College was the first community college to open in the Denver area. What began as Arapahoe Junior College with 550 students, has grown into a vibrant community college serving over 18,000 credit and non-credit students yearly.The College now offers over 100...
and Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
Heritage High School (Littleton, Colorado)
Heritage High School, in Littleton, Colorado was completed in 1972 as the last of three high schools in the Littleton Public Schools system. It was rated by Newsweek magazine as one of the top 200 high schools in the United States, and the Denver-based 5280 magazine acknowledged Heritage High...
, he enthusiastically adopted a modified International Style
International style
International style may refer to:*International style , the early 20th century modern movement in architecture*International style , the International Gothic style in medieval art...
(also at the time called "Brutalist") using concrete as the major building material, believing that this best suited the functions of these particular buildings. However one of his last buildings, the high-rise patient care and research building for National Jewish Hospital, has a strikingly simple, warm red brick exterior.
Licenses, professional memberships, appointments, and other honors
- Eugene Sternberg became a licensed architect in the United Kingdom in 1944, and eligible for membership in the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1947,he became a member of the American Institute of Architects.
- In the United States, Sternberg was was a licensed architect in Colorado (1949), Wyoming (1951), Nebraska (1952), and Rhode Island (1964), and qualified for national licensing with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (1963).
- He was a certified Town Planner in the United Kingdom (1946) and an Associate Member of the American Institute of Planners (1947).
- In 1955. Sternberg was appointed by Governor Ed Johnson as a member of the Colorado State Board of Examiners for Architects and was re-appointed to this position by Governor Steven McNichols in1957.
- In 1964 Sternberg was appointed by Marie McGuire, Public Housing Authority Commissioner, as one of 19 consultant architects invited to assist in the efforts of the PHA to upgrade the design of low-cost and public housing.
- Sternberg was appointed by Governor Richard D. Lamm in 1985 as a member of the Colorado State Health Facilities Review Council.
- A plaque was presented to Sternberg in 1884 expressing the appreciation of the Evergreen Recreation Board, Staff, and Community for his volunteer contribution to Designing and Remodeling the Addition to the Evergreen Metro Recreation Park District Center
- At graduation ceremonies of the University of Colorado, Denver, on May 17, 1986, Sternberg was presented with the Mack Easton Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the School of Architecture and its programs.
- In 1987 the Evergreen Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution honored Eugene and Barbara Sternberg for their contribution to local historical knowledge through the publication of their book, Evergreen: Our Mountain Community.
- In March , 1987, the Jefferson County Planning Commission Certificate of Appreciation to Sternberg for his service, and in April of the same year, the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners presented him with a Certificate of Merit in appreciation for his volunteer services.
- Eugene and Barbara Sternberg received an Award from the Jefferson County Public Library for "Generous Contributions to the Evergreen Library and Community."
- In 1990, the Denver Public Library Friends Foundation had a ceremony honoring a number of Colorado authors in what they called a First Edition of Book Plates. Eugene and Barbara Sternberg were recognized for their book, Evergreen, Our Mountain Community.
- There were other Evergreen honors. In 1992, Eugene Sternberg was honored as " Evergreen Person of the Year." For the years 1992-3, the Evergreen Kiwanis presented Sternberg with an Appreciation Award for his services to the Club and to the community. In 2000, the, the Evergreen Area Arts Council honored Eugene and Barbara Sternberg for their "Outstanding Contributions to the Arts."
- In 2002 came an unexpected recognition from Dwell Magazine, which gave Eugene Sternberg a "Nice Modernist Award" for the Arapahoe Acres Subdivision, which had just been designated a National Historic District of Modernist Architecture.
- 2004 May 19 – Historic Littleton Inc. and the Englewood Historical Society honored Eugene Sternberg with a dinner and exhibition of his work for "a lifetime of architectural achievement and community service."
- 2004 October 16 - Eugene and Barbara Sternberg were elected to the Jefferson County Historical Commission Hall of Fame as Historical Authors and Community Advocates.