Best Reuse of a Historic Building

Historically known as the Gates Mansion, the fabulous house that sits high above the corner of Fourteenth Avenue and Josephine Street is an easy-to-recognize landmark. Built for merchant Russell Gates in 1892, the fine Richardsonian-Romanesque residence is noteworthy for its monumental stone arches and elegant massing. The identity of the designer is unknown, but it's thought to have been architect H. Chatten. Unfortunately, the house was divided into apartments nearly twenty years after its completion, and it later became a boardinghouse. In 1984 it got a slight rehab and was turned into an office building. More recently, the building was acquired by the Del Norte Neighborhood Development Corporation, which completely renovated and expanded it last summer. The mansion is now a housing-and-care facility for formerly homeless people with HIV, and it has been renamed Dave's Place. Surprisingly, the neighbors didn't complain as they might have done in another neighborhood when faced with the combination of homelessness and HIV. Location, location, location.