It’s going on a decade since Tracy Weil set out to do what some deemed foolhardy during the height of the early-millennium real estate boom:
Buy an urban parcel in Denver, build a place to live and work, and do it all affordably.
“I wanted a place where I could hold events and be creative, a gallery where I could show my work and other people’s work, and I wanted to work at home,” recalls Weil, 43, an artist and Web designer who is one of the founders of the bustling River North Art District northeast of downtown.
Being an urban pioneer isn’t always easy, as Weil notes.
“Try telling your mother you’re buying a junkyard instead of your first house!”
His future home was commercial land on the banks of the South Platte River, downwind from the Purina Dog Chow factory and the National Western Stock Show grounds. Besides the river wildlife — hawks, raccoons and toads all make themselves at home here — neighbors included a Ford Model A junkyard and The Welcome Inn, a nondescript watering hole.
Today Weil’s home has a name — Weilworks. It was completed in 2003 for about $100 a square foot, on land the artist purchased for about $150,000.
It’s an emerging landmark, thanks to its familiar, often-photographed, industrial “bell tower” designed by architect David Lynn Wise, and a busy programming schedule that includes art shows, studio tours and even plant sales.
The building is wood covered by galvanized steel and topped with rough-cut cedar and HardiPlank, which looks like cement but is partially made from recycled paper. These are stark, industrial materials that together manage to capture the air of a Dust Bowl-era barn.
That could be why Weilworks has been getting noticed. “Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t drive by really slowly,” Weil says of the building that was inspired, in part, by his grandparents’ North Dakota farm. His building and business received a Mayor’s Design Award in 2006, was featured on the HGTV show “Beyond the Box” around the same time, and mentioned in “Sunset” magazine in 2008 alongside other RiNo destinations.
A neon orange “Weilworks” sign greets visitors to this home and gallery. It was a gift to Weil from partner Kelan Smith, who’s an environmental graphic designer. (That means he conceives municipal signage.) Smith shares Weil’s affinity for gardening, artwork, collectibles and a dog-as-copilot lifestyle. “We’re both just big kids,” Weil says of Smith, who moved in shortly after the building was finished.
The junkyard’s old garage is to the left of the Weilworks entrance. Now this is the studio. The gallery is to the right. It doubles as a kitchen, dining room and guest bedroom.
Weil installed the Ikea kitchen cabinets himself. “Once you do the first one,” he says of this notoriously challenging do-it-yourself project, “it’s not so bad.”
Straight ahead from the entrance is a staircase that leads to the second-floor loft apartment where a see-through Lexan acrylic floor window offers a bird’s eye view onto the gallery. One more level up, the third story is devoted to the observation tower and landing, which is a trellis-like structure that from some vantages looks like a pair of wings about to take flight. This contemplative nook has a 360-degree view of the city, urban neighborhoods, mountains to the west and plains to the south and east. It is accessed by an exterior spiral staircase.
“You really get the panorama as you go around the stairs and arrive at the top,” says architect David Lynn Wise. “It’s clearly a great spot, especially as that area changes.”
Mutual acquaintances introduced artist and architect.
“This building in some ways looks very simple,” Wise says. “Up close, it’s very intricate.”
Alongside Silo, a mushy-faced 6-year-old Kunshound, and Moose, a doe-eyed, 8-year-old silky terrier, Smith and Weil live surrounded by ’70s furniture, vintage toy and doll displays, and an enviable collection of works by Colorado artists Sharon Bond Brown, Sharon Feder, Bill Amundson, Lee Lee, Susan Wick, Stanton Englehart, Phil Bender, Jimmy Sellars, William Betts, David Zimmer, Jonathan Kaplan and Kim Ferrer.
Taking cues from parents who were avid gardeners — “You could eat your way through our yard,” Smith recalls of his childhood home in Walnut Creek, Calif. — the homeowners have developed extensive gardens on the property. The grounds now include a grape arbor, copious herbs and perennials, and raised vegetable beds where they grow dozens of heirloom tomato plants. Weil has hosted a spring heirloom tomato plant sale two years in a row that this year was so popular, he teamed up with a local greenhouse for help producing the plants. He still sold out.
Although the sale is a money- maker, Weil says, “it’s more for the preservation of heirlooms, because I love them.”
And in the years since Weilworks opened, RiNo has become one of the places in Denver “where art is made,” according to the district’s apt branding slogan. Where once the northwest view from the Weilworks tower was little more than train tracks, now that perspective includes the vivid buildings that make up the Taxi community, as well as dozens of other galleries, studios and design firms.
“During the day, there’s industry and trucks here,” Weil says. “After 5 o’clock, it’s almost rural again. We’re living in the heart of the city, but it’s still so private.”
Weilworks is located at 3611 Chestnut St. To find out about upcoming events there, visit or call 303-308-9345. Tracy Weil’s work also is part of “The Collectibles,” a three-artist show inspired by old toys and action figures that’s up at Pattern Shop Studio, 3499 Blake St., through June 20. Or, visitors to RiNo can take a closer look at Weilworks and the art district’s many other offbeat spaces on June 19 as part of the Riennial Open Studio Tour. Details at .
