CREJ

MARCH 2017 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \

n 2017, the 117-year-old building on the corner

of 17th Avenue and Pearl Street, most recently

home to the Tavern Uptown, will undergo ex-

tensive renovations. It will also welcome a new

neighbor of significantly more girth, an eight-story

multifamily development that will be home to more

than 300 new apartments. When originally conceived,

the project would have included the same number of

apartments, but the 117-year-old building would have

been in the landfill. What changed its course? The advo-

cacy of local nonprofit Historic Denver Inc.

In December 1970, a small group of Denver residents

formed Historic Denver, a nonprofit that began by pur-

chasing and restoring the Molly Brown House Museum,

but which has since spent four decades advocating for Denver’s historic

buildings and public spaces. Historic Denver’s advocacy has repeatedly

demonstrated that preservation is as much about our city’s future as it is

about our past.

In fact, preservation advocacy has ushered in some of our city’s most

important developments. None is more striking than Lower Downtown,

where preservationists worked for much of the 1980s to protect and se-

cure the iconic brick warehouses, and to create an environment friendly

to reinvestment and development. In Lowry, early decisions about the re-

use of historic buildings shaped the character and direction of develop-

ment, and formed the backbone for one of the city’s most popular mixed-

use neighborhoods.

In the case of the building at 17th and Pearl, Historic Denver’s advoca-

cy took the form of collaboration, and demonstrated that when devel-

opers and preservationists work together a win-win outcome is possible.

When news of the potential demolition first broke during the summer

of 2015, public reaction was strong. Neighbors and fans of the building,

including patrons of the Tavern Uptown and the patrons of restaurants

previously located in the building, like The Grand, took to social media to

express their concern. The phones at Historic Denver started ringing, and

we quickly posted a petition to assess the desire of the community to save

the building. In one short week, more than 1,600 people signed.

Historic Denver reached out to the owners of the site, Southern Land

Co., to share the concerns expressed in the petition. Southern Land ac-

quired the site in the late spring of 2015, and the site included the historic

corner building, a large parking lot and a few other existing buildings.

Fortunately, not only was Southern Land immediately responsive but also

Annie Lewinsky

Executive

Director,

Historic

Denver Inc.