Category: Historic Buildings

Well, that was a question, but it didn’t make much sense. The people who had been put on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C., wanted to bow to the previous president. There was “explicit language endorsing ‘Spanish colonial and other Mediterranean styles generally found in Florida,’ thus including Trump’s privately owned Mar-a-Lago …

Continue reading "Remember the brouhaha in February 2020, when the former person in the White House decided that all new federal buildings should follow “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again”?"

Today’s Denverite offers a tour of the former Pancratia Hall, which is being turned into the Pancratia Hall Lofts. It is a striking beginning, chronicled by a reporter and a photographer. In the way back when we actually went to meetings, I started following the fate of the Loretto Heights Campus, which was purchased by Westside Investment Partners, Inc. …

Continue reading "Talk about envious: When following the plans and views for Pancratia Hall at Loretto Heights, who wouldn’t want to be in there?"

When Bruce Randolph came to Denver, he had almost no money, but he loved to cook. This was in 1963. He went to a bank and was able to receive a small loan to build a barbecue cooker and then rent a building.  He worked out of a building at 34th and Gilpin – and, amazingly, …

Continue reading "The true meaning of giving: “Daddy” Bruce Randolph’s work continues today."

The “waiting” in this instance is the fact that it’s been almost two years since the Ponti Building – now named the Martin Building – shut down operations for a massive renovation and upgrading. At that time, it seemed as if 2021 was far away. But that is a trick of the mind: The Denver …

Continue reading "Playing a waiting game can be difficult"

Many years ago, I was eating lunch in The Hornet, and staring at the boarded up 1st Avenue Hotel across Broadway. What a shame, I thought. Such an elegant building, and so prominent in the Baker neighborhood. The hotel was built in 1905 to a design by architect William Quayle. The hotel was convenient for …

Continue reading "Poor 1st Avenue Hotel: Now what?"

Even if you whittle down magazine subscriptions every once in a while, at times it just seems overwhelming. But when I found some magazines that had been buried under a pile of other magazines, I learned more about a place that mixes old and new – and it is right in Aurora. I had already …

Continue reading "New and old shake hands over a meal"