History buffs admire downtown Modesto’s design gems

MODESTO — She was discussing the library building on I Street, but Ilse Craane might well have been describing downtown Modesto:

“It’s almost nondescript, but when you start looking, you see really great details.”

Craane led a handful of history buffs on a 10-block architecture tour of downtown Modesto on Saturday morning. The tour kicked off the fifth Modesto International Architecture Fest, which runs through Sept. 23, and served as the opening of the Building Imagination Center, a venture of California State University, Stanislaus, and the Modesto Art Museum.