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Astor House is a gateway to this historic district, which contains some of the oldest residences in Colorado. These small masonry homes, some dating to the 1860s, are of greater historical than architectural interest, as some have lost their design integrity. George West, a town founder and founder of the still published Golden Transcript, built the West House (1871) at 1018 12th Street. West's two-story pressed red brick house is the oldest among twelve significant and thirty-three contributing homes in the fifty-seven-structure district. John H. Parsons, who did much construction in early Golden, built his own large brick and stone Parsons House (1869) at 1011 12th Street. The Guy Hill School (1876), in a pocket park at 12th and Ford streets, is a one-room, lap-sided school moved here in 1976. The otherwise unremarkable post office (1940, WPA), 619 12th Street, houses Kenneth Evett's 1941 WPA mural, Building the Road, depicting construction of U.S. 6 through Clear Creek Canyon.