One of our favorite parts of being Preservation Architects is learning the unique stories behind the buildings we work on. It adds a whole new level of depth to a project that you don’t find in other areas of architecture. Storytelling is one of the greatest tools we have to gain project momentum. We pride ourselves in helping to continue the legacy of great places and protecting their stories. In February, I presented at Colorado Preservation Inc’s Saving Places Conference as part of the APT-RMC Lightening Talk. My topic was “Six Degrees of Preservation” discussing some of the more interesting threads of connectivity I have found over the past several years of preservation work.

I realized I needed to start keeping track of the connections while working on the Dennis Sheedy Mansion at 1115 Grant Street. The mansion and carriage house were built in 1892 by Architects E.T. Carr and William Feth. During my research I found a copy of Dennis Sheedy’s autobiography in the Western History and Genealogy Collection at the Denver Public Library. Dennis had signed and addressed the copy “Presented to A.L. Doud by Dennis Sheedy with Compliments and Best Wishes”. 

Dennis Sheedy came to Colorado in the 1880s after building his fortune in the mercantile and cattle business. He was asked to be on the board of the Colorado National Bank, later becoming the director and then the vice president. In his role on the board he was asked to evaluate some of their riskier loan holders. Following his report to the board, Sheedy decided to personally save two of them. One was the Holden Smelter which became the Globe Smelter and Refinery and the other was the McNamara Dry Goods which became the Denver Dry Good. Both businesses were highly important to Denver’s history.

In 1927 Helen Bonfils purchased Sheedy’s home and turned it into a fine arts school for the community. Her influence saved the residence from the wave of demolition that swept down what was then known as Millionaire’s Row. In 1974 the mansion was sold and converted into an office building, dividing the grand rooms up into small office suites.

In 2014 the building was purchased by Unbridled Holdings for their offices and I worked on the renovation that reversed much of the 70s alterations. The project infused new life into the mansion, highlighting the history while making it functional for a vibrant modern company. A gym with private showers; quiet rooms; small and large conference space; open-group as well as private offices; a music lounge and a group kitchen are just a few of the modern amenities. The historic fabric is an enhancement, not a limiter. There is intricate and varied woodwork (there are 12 different fireplaces and 9 different species of wood in the building) making each room unique. The historic windows flood the rooms with light. The pocket doors were restored, giving occupants the ability for the rooms to flow together or close them off if needed. A few new complimentary elements were incorporated into the building, including a beautiful new window by Watkins Stained Glass Studio.

In 2017 Unbridled purchased the Historic Bosworth House at 1400 Josephine Street. The house was designed by the firm of Varian and Sterner in 1889. Frederick J. Sterner and Ernest Phillip Varian met while working in the office of Frank E. Edbrooke. The Bosworth house pre-dates Sheedy mansion, but the interior woodwork is strikingly similar. Our renovation of the Bosworth mansion will begin this spring and it has already been dubbed “the mini-mansion”. Our intent is to incorporate the same successes we found on the Sheedy Project, but with a unique twist. Check us out on Facebook and Instagram for progress photos and more info about the renovations.

Another Varian and Sterner building we’re excited to be working on is the Charline Place Condominiums, on the 1400 block of Pennsylvania. Owner Charles Smith built Charline Place in 1890 and the building was originally four grand townhomes. In 1902 Charles hired Architect J.J. Huddart to convert the building into 12 apartments, adding exterior balconies and “popping the top” in the center of the East façade (pop-tops aren’t a modern phenomenon). Freight elevators were also added in the back of the building and the multi-level sleeping porches were enclosed.

The building was divided twice more into 20+ condominiums and then into 42. The 1920s renovations added one-of-a-kind terrazzo floors, skylights and gave the building a castle-theme. If you find yourself walking by, look for the stucco to tell you where the open porches existed before the 1920s. We talked about Charline Place’s stone in our post Losing Colorado’s Manitou Sandstone. 

In 2015 I had the distinct pleasure of working on the renovation of 1201 Auraria Parkway. This building was constructed in 1901 by Dennis Sheedy as the Denver Dry Good Warehouse. The architect was Frank E. Edbrooke, who designed the Denver Dry Good building at 16th and California (the original and several additions/expansions).

The placement of 1201 had to do with the train line that ran right behind the building. When we removed some later additions off the south and west facades, we found some of the original shutters that were closed when a train went by to prevent soot from damaging the merchandise. My favorite part of the project is when the large freight shaft was opened up and you could see all the way from the basement to the roof. You will find this image on some of my business cards.

It tells you so much about how the building was originally put together and I love the connection it gives you to everyone from the people who sawed the timber to the ones who stocked the wagons headed to the Dry and now the modern builders and office workers who brought life back into the space.

In 2016 I completed a Historic Structures Assessment of the Pennborough Condominiums at 12th and Pennsylvania. This building is particularly interesting because I found it was connected to many projects in different ways. In 1892, Colonel David C. Dodge built his home at the southwest corner of 12th and Pennsylvania and a few years later Joseph B. Gilluly purchased the lot to the south and built his home. Colonel Dodge moved to Denver in 1867 as a general agent for the Chicago and North Western Railway. In 1872 he went to work for General William Palmer as a Traffic Manager and then General Manager for the Denver & Rio Grande. Dodge and Palmer are credited with developing and building the entire D&RG system and Dodge personally helped to finance the construction of the Moffat Tunnel.

Joseph Gilluly was the treasurer for the Denver & Rio Grande and during my research I found he was on the board of the Colorado Seminary with A.L. Doud. Doud turned out to be a notable Denver Lawyer who must have known both Gilluly and Sheedy. Although I’ve suspected the two knew each other in more ways than that considering the proximities of their grand houses. It’s no stretch to assume Sheedy, Gilluly, Dodge and Palmer ran in all the same circles. Denver was just more than a cow-town back then!

Pennborough gets even more interesting in the 1920s when Doctor John Henry Tilden purchased the two mansions and hired Harry W.J. Edbrooke to design an addition that spans between the two buildings. Harry moved to Colorado to join his uncle Frank’s practice in 1908. After the 1920s, the building at 12th and Penn became the Tilden Hospital, later changing to a Good Samaritan Convalescence Home before its 1980s conversion into condominiums.

Doctor Tilden moved to Denver in the 1890s. He originally studied medicine under his father in Illinois but then his career path changed when he went to the Eclectic Medicine  Institute in Cincinnati. Tilden became an alternative medicine practitioner, criticizing pharmaceuticals and explaining disease was a result of Toxemia. As I started researching Tilden and becoming enthralled by his theories of curing ailments through fresh air, healthy eating and exercise, I found there was a National Register listing for a Tilden School for Teaching Health up in the Highlands neighborhood. When I started looking at the NR Nomination I realized in the corner of the photo, next to the two school buildings, was the Bosler House. Come to find out, Tilden purchased the Bosler house and hired Harry Edbrooke to build the school. Jessica corroborated my story, as she has been working on the Bosler house for the past several years. I interviewed her to get the details about its history. Built in 1875 for Ambrose Bosler, one of the founders of Highland, it is one of the oldest surviving homes in Denver. The home is of some recent note as the previous owner applied for a demo permit, was denied and then attempted to demolish it by neglect. But new Owners took on the great task of restoration. Currently we are working on the stone, window and doors project, which is nearing completion.  The original tower was also recently reconstructed.

Lastly, I will leave you with our CF&I Mine Project in Creede, Colorado. The CF&I operated from 1911 -1950 mining Flourspar supplying the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in Pueblo. The property was first the site of the Wagon Wheel Gap Hot Springs resort that opened in the 1870s and was purchased 1907 by General William Palmer. The Denver & Rio Grande line runs through the canyon downstream.

The site is currently part of the 4UR Ranch, maintaining the hot-springs/resort function for more than 100 years. F+W is in the process of a stabilization project repairing some collapses and deterioration from water rushing down the slope of the mountain and through the building. We hope to help repair and prevent further losses to save this gem for future generations. Here’s visual of how all of these projects connect. We hope there will be more tidbits like this to share with you as our work through the State continues.

By Natalie Lord

Buildings are rarely known for their architects and if they are, the architects are likely a select few “star-chitects” like the familiar Wright, Liebeskind, Graves, Calatrava, etc. Usually the buildings are known for their function or named after their Owner. We were surprised and excited when we were contacted by Family of Christ Presbyterian Church in Greeley to assist them with a house known for its very unique architect. Bessie Smith was born and raised in Greeley and became an architect by correspondence. She was Denver’s only female architect from 1901-1903. She returned to Greeley in 1903 to practice. She was known for climbing around on her buildings to inspect the construction.

The house was built c. 1907 for the Carrel Family. Up until 2016 it was located at 1115 15th Street. The City condemned the block and began plans for demolishing the structures to make way for a future municipal project. The Bessie Smith house is one of only a handful of surviving examples of her work in Greeley, which include the Coronado Building (at 9th Ave and 9th St) and the Plumb Farm House (Now the Wright-Plumb Farm Learning Center). Linde and Ron Thompson, members of Historic Greeley, Inc., began spreading the word to save the house. Family of Christ Presbyterian Church, located on 35th Ave, answered the call to save the house. Having a nice large property, they saw the potential for the house to become part of their growing community outreach programs and a way to help even more people.

While Family of Christ has taken the lead, this project has been, and will continue to be a community endeavor.  Creating space for a new municipal building, the City of Greeley awarded the house to the church after reviewing its community-minded proposal.  Going forward, Family of Christ is looking for additional partners to help rehabilitate the house and carry out the community center’s mission of “Honoring History, Practicing Hospitality, and Seeking Harmony.” 

Family of Christ, with the aid of a City stipend, moved the house into their parking lot and began the first step in setting the building back down. When Form+Works met with the church, the new foundation walls had been poured, but they were looking for assistance in working through their vision of what the final building will be to complete the systems rough-in and adequately plan for providing accessibility. Form+Works worked with this wonderful group and now, with the City’s approval, the house is ready for the final move to its new home. Stay-tuned as we will surely document this momentous event. Once on the ground, the Thompsons and Form+Works will continue the work to fully restore this beautiful building.

Bessie Smith House

Don’t let the before photos scare you, the bones of the house are in good condition.

Bessie Smith’s architectural career after 1910 is unknown. Records show she moved to San Diego with her father in 1910 and in 1912 she married Benjamin Wellington Bryant. Together they had a daughter, Barbara.  Bessie died at the age of 39 in San Diego and there are no records that she ever returned to Greeley.

When I first read about Bessie Smith, the correlations between the two of us are quite striking. Having been born and raised in Greeley myself, my house was less than 2 miles from the original Carrel House location. Our birth years are exactly 100 years apart – 1882 and 1982 – and I moved to San Diego after getting married. Of course, our stories depart from there, as I returned to Colorado after my graduate degree.

Regardless, I was elated that Form+Works was selected to be a part of this very special building in my hometown. I think about Bessie Smith as I stitch the histories of our projects back together from the same time period. She lived a drastically different life than other women of her time. She likely had no idea that 110 years later a group of women architects would be looking back at her work, grateful she paved the way for us in the practice of architecture. I like to think that she simply loved the discipline as much as we do.  Various articles and opinions about her reach the same consensus –  Bessie Smith never received the attention she deserved, but we are hoping this project is the first step in shedding some light onto her work and life. Additionally, we hope to honor her as we put this house to a new use for First Family of Christ and the Greeley community.

Natalie Lord

Last night Form+Works met with the Home Owner’s Association of Charline Place, a condominium building in Denver’s Pennsylvania Street Historic District (if this sounds familiar to any out-of-towners, the District includes the famous Molly Brown House Museum). As you recall, they were one of the State Historical Fund’s 2017 Mini-Grant Recipients that we announced a couple of months ago.

The Charline Place project will be an exterior evaluation of the historic windows, brick and Manitou Sandstone masonry. The project will provide a preservation plan for the HOA to utilize to focus their efforts in a prioritized and manageable way.

We are excited to work with Historic Denver and add Charline Place to our list of Manitou Sandstone buildings we’ve been fortunate to work on. The thing that makes Manitou Sandstone so unique is that it is one of Colorado’s “extinct” materials. Extinct is in quotes because technically the stone isn’t gone….but it would likely be pretty frowned upon to start quarrying right in the middle of Garden of the Gods, one of Colorado’s designated National Natural Landmarks. Needless to say, the only source of exact replacement of Manitou now would be to deconstruct another building, which as preservationists, we would be vehemently against.

At the turn of the 20th century, the stone was quarried and utilized for countless buildings around Colorado. It is a beautiful stone with a consistent red-orange color. Unfortunately Colorado’s drastic freeze-thaw cycles take a significant toll on sandstones of all kinds, but Manitou, although beautiful, was not one of the most durable stones. The face of the stone tends to “sugar”. That process is exactly what you would imagine. As a sedimentary rock, sandstone is formed by grains of sand being pressed together over time. Since there is no binding material holding the sand together, the durability of the stone is really subject to the amount of pressure it was formed under.

What we have seen on past projects and now on areas of Charline Place, is that there was a campaign – sometime in the 60s and 70s (what we now think of as the “Preservation Dark Ages”) where sandstone buildings were parged  (application of a layer of concrete or stucco)  with the thought that this would stop the deterioration. Unfortunately, what we are seeing is this actually increased the deterioration of the stone more dramatically. You will see areas that haven’t been parged are often in great shape and areas with parging can cause the entire face of the stone (sometimes several inches in) to fall off.

As our project at Charline Place gets started we will be sure to better illustrate what we are describing. Be sure to keep up with our Instagram and Facebook pages for progress updates.

Natalie Lord

I first stepped into the Colorado State Capitol as a student when I attended Shawsheen Elementary in Greeley and have been enamored with the building ever since. There are so many surprises to be found inside and out. Every time I see the line of buses along Grant Street and the groups of children eagerly walking into the building, I am reminded of that first wonderment. The Capitol building belongs to all of us in Colorado and we take great pride in working on it carefully and bringing back pieces of its historic beauty.

Jane and I have been honored to work at the Capitol for the past several years. Jane’s work on the Capitol began on the restoration of the windows as part of the Dome Team. I joined her near the end of the last construction phase and since then we’ve worked together on the many phases of restoring the east wing, stone and windows, and the roof and skylights.

As you’ve likely seen from our Facebook and Instagram posts (if not, click on the links to follow us) phase 2 of the roof and our 4th phase of the committee rooms have started construction for the Summer. The Capitol building is a unique place to work. Our Legislative Session runs from January until May, making the construction windows short and the need for multiple phases necessary.

When the Capitol was completed, the roof was predominatly slate tile with areas of flat lock and standing seam copper. The gutters as well were all copper. I write that information in two short sentences, but am instantly reminded of the hours spent in the archives looking through the original drawings, old photographs and newspaper clippings to determine the original construction and find the story behind why and how it changed over time.

Slate roofs are widely known as 100+ year roofs. And the failures over time are generally from deteriorated materials beneath the shingles. Repairs to slate roofs can sometimes be liminted to removing the slate, replacing the substrates and membranes and reinstalling the same original slate.

Yet at just about 115 years after its completion, our Capitol has seen multiple roof replacements. Our initial task was to figure out why in order to best propose a design for the new roof. There is nothing worse than repeating a mistake, even if it is historically accurate to do so. So we like to start every project with research and forensics to have a more complete picture.

Here’s a snippet from the historic drawings showing the original roof construction. All architects have a slight envy for the days of the hand drafted detail. No computer could compete with this.

Photo circa 1910 when the slate was still on the building.

In 1927, just about 23 years after the roof was complete, the slate was replaced with a terra cotta tile roof. Specifically a white glazed Ludowici Greek Pan and Cover tile. This replacement was much too soon in the design team’s opinion, and again terra cotta roofs are also known to be 100+ year roofs, yet just 40 short years later the main spans of the roof were replaced again. This time with an asphalt shingle roof, similar to what you will find on most homes. However, this time, the terra cotta remained on the north and south wings of the building and on the small gabled ends on the east and west wings.

Cut sheet from Ludowici’s Greek tile collection – still in production today.

This was a clue that helped us put together the team’s hypothesis which is that the slope of the main roof is too shallow and both the slate and terra cotta likely failed due to driving rain. This hypothesis was built upon when we were able to locate some of the original slate from the roof and examine it. It was sitting in a gentleman’s backyard right here in Colorado. After obtaining several of the tiles, we realized they were still in excellent condition, which answered our question of whether it was a bad slate that was used. What we did find is that they were very short tiles and they were not overlapped enough when they were installed to prevent water from getting in, since the angle of the roof was so shallow.

Once the team determined this, it was time to find the best method of restoration. We worked with History Colorado and the State to strike a balance between honoring the historic nature of the building, while also creating a long-lasting roof. The resolution was to replace the areas with greater slopes with slate tile like the original roof. The new slates are longer in length to improve on the original detailing. On the low-sloping roof, the team designed a Freedom Gray, standing seam copper roof system. The Freedom Gray will eventually patina to more closely match the color of the slate in order to give the roof visual consistency, but the standing seam is a better application for these low-slope areas.

An early mock-up of options on the roof. Freedom Gray was selected for the Standing Seam (lower portion)

In addition to the roof itself, other historic features are being recreated. The leaking skylights, which have been shrink-wrapped for years to protect the building’s interior, are being replaced with new skylights with low-E insulated glass to reduce heat gain inside the building.

2015 Photograph of the roof showing one of the shrink-wrapped skylights, the base of the flagpole, roof access hatch and ladder.

There was originally a decorative flagpole, an ornamental chimney cap and vent hoods on the building. Photographs over time, show parts of these elements were modified and/or removed until eventually all pieces were taken off the roof.

Snippet from the original drawings showing the decorative chimney cap (left) and vent caps

A few safety improvements are included as part of the project as well. A fall protection system is being added to improve safety for maintenance personnel. Snow bars and guards, a larger roof hatch, ladder and platform were also installed as part of Phase 1. Finally the lighting for the dome and for the grounds will be fully replaced with new more efficient LED lights. The lights are also being relocated on the building to less conspicuous areas to reduce the visual impact.

We will keep updating as construction progresses, but here are some photos from Phase 1.

Natalie Lord

Each year on June 1st, History Colorado releases the list of mini-grant recipients who applied for the April 1st grant cycle. This is a very exciting time for our friends and clients who put forth great efforts to get this far and we are excited to celebrate with them! So without further adieu, in order of the State Historical Fund (SHF) list (because, just like our children, we love them all equally)…..

(Drumroll)

• La Junta Plaza Block Building

• Charline Place

Image Source: Western History and Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library

• World’s Wonder View Tower

Congratulations to all! To see the full list of April 2017 Mini-grant Recipients Click Here. Also come back on August 1st when the remaining $35,000+ April 2017 awarded grants are announced.

For those who might not be aware, the SHF mini-grant funding is for projects up to $35,000 and that fall under one of three categories: Acquisition & Development, Education, and Survey & Inventory.  If you are interested in learning more about the process or need assistance with your grant application, please reach out, we are here to help.

In other news, Form+Works officially has a new office! We signed the lease yesterday at 1738 Wynkoop and will be moving in over the next several days. You know how architects are – we will need to try out several space layouts before we settle on one. But we are planning an open house when it is presentable for visitors. With Wynkoop Brewery two doors down and Milkbox Ice Creamery across the street, we feel confident the location can accommodate any need. Coming soon, we will tell you more about our building and why it is so special to Denver and LoDo.