Denver is a forward-looking city these days, enjoying — and suffering from — an unprecedented building boom that is impossible to ignore. New construction is remaking every neighborhood, sometimes for the better and sometimes not.
But the bring attention to the one place we are starting to get it right: historic preservation. The winners are, by and large, not new builds at all, but older places that have been saved from neglect by civic-minded owners, clever architects and dedicated construction company leaders who come together to recognize the future of Denver can only be considered in the context of its past.
Good design, as these awards show, makes ordinary things important, builds a collective identity, and brightens up our daily routines.
3120 N. Uinta St.
Owner: Robert Thompson
Architects: OZ Architecture, with Megan Freckelton and Frank Mataipule
Builder: R&M General Contractors
What it is: The old Stapleton Airport control tower sat dormant for years as the city and developers tried to figure out how to make this giraffe of a building useful for the new urban neighborhood that has popped up around it. Punch Bowl, a combination bowling alley/restaurant, is a 21st-century, multitasking, entertainment megaplex.
Why it deserves the award: Punch Bowl’s party atmosphere honors the spirt of the building’s unique future-forward design. The project spared the demolition of landmark and kept the place public. In a sense, it’s a living lesson on local aviation history. And there’s beer.
Rainbow Crosswalk
Broadway and 1st Avenue
Creator: Buffalo Exchange on Broadway
What it is: Just in time for last , the clothing store Buffalo Exchange, partnering with the city, engineered this highly visible, multicolored celebration of diversity.
Why it deserves the award: The move shows how small design gestures can have a big impact on the community, and how design can bring people together. The crosswalk’s kick-off event, “The Crosswalk Walk-Off,” was a blast, with drag queens (and other assorted good spirits) competing for best of show as they paraded across one of the Denver’s busiest streets every time the traffic light turned red.
Colorado Health Foundation Building
1780 Pennsylvania St.
Owner: Colorado Health Foundation
Architect: Davis Partnership Architects
Builder: Saunders Construction
What it is: The new home of one of Colorado’s critical non-profit service providers. The foundation’s goal is health equity — for everyone.
Why it deserves the award: The CHF’s new headquarters is an expressionist billboard for its mission. The place is certified up-and-down for its commitment to the sustainability of the environment and the health of the people who work there and visit. Yes, it’s a little loud, but it has a lot to say about how Colorado can be a better place.
The Ramble Hotel
2450 Larimer St.
Owners: Gravitas Development Group
Architect: Johnson Nathan Strohe.
Interior Designer: Avenue Interior Designer
Builder: Sprung Construction
What it is: With delicate design moves and a deep respect for Denver’s architectural past, the Ramble Hotel transformed a stale, structural dinosaur into a one-of-a-kind hot spot, featuring 50 guest rooms, a restaurant and a local outpost for the
Why it deserves the award: Gentrification is a lot less painful when it’s pretty. Yes, this place is pricey, but the developer resisted ruining this structure with a lot of unattractive modifications that might have made it more profitable. Let’s drink to that.
2200 California
2200 California St.
Owner: VanWest Partners
Architect: Arrow B Architecture, Shane Martin, Ally Frueauf
Builder: Spectrum General Contractors, Inc., John Lanphier
What it is: Somehow this tiny pocket of downtown escaped all the scraping and scrapping of Denver’s inner core over the past 10 years. Now, it’s a revitalizing, retail force in the neighborhood, capable of housing a variety of user-friendly storefront businesses.
Why it deserves the award: The best argument against demolition of 2018 and a case for modesty in building design. Instead of showy gestures, this project uses old-school tools like windows, doors and patios to connect a formerly hunkered down structure to the environment around it.
Steam on the Platte
1401 Zuni St.
Owner: Urban Ventures and Zuni Corridor, Tim White & Dour Decker
Architect: tres birds workshop
Builder: White Construction Group
What it is: Steam on the Platte, located on a 3.2-acre site along the Platte River in Sun Valley, converts a 65,000-square-foot, century-old, former industrial warehouse into a collective workspace for creative commercial enterprises.
Why it deserves the award: This is the return a city like Denver gets when it cleans up its waterways and invests in its public transportation infrastructure. Proximity to light rail made this renovation attractive to developers and they were smart to keep things simple, limiting modifications to the original structure, embracing its connection to the river and wiring it up for tomorrow’s business needs.
The Bosler
3209 W. Fairview Place
Owners: Steven and Janise Davis
Architect: Jessica Reske, Restoration Architect, Form + Works Design Group
Builder: Steven Davis
What it is: The 1875 Bosler Mansion is Highland history, and this renovation preserved it with all due respect. Once home to pioneering businessman Ambrose Bosler and, later, to banker and Union Army officer W.H. Yankee, the red-brick, single-family home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Why it deserves the award: Preservation of this magnitude doesn’t come easy — and it doesn’t come cheap. It took more than $2 million and the fortitude of both its owners and various local and national preservation groups to keep the place from ruin. It’s a private home but a public treasure, and it stands now for generations to come.
The complete list of 2018 Mayor’s Design Award winners
- Backyard on Blake, 3070 Blake St.
- Reimagining Learning Landscapes: Garden Place Academy Research Station and Community Garden, 4425 Lincoln St.
- The Art Alley at , 1800 Wazee St.
- Thomas Jefferson High School Bus Shelter, RTD Bus Shelter at Hampden Ave and S. Ivanhoe St.
- 2200 California
- Steam on the Platte, 1401 Zuni St.
- Colorado Health Foundation Building, 1780 Pennsylvania St.
- The Wheatley, 530 East 25th Avenue, 2490 Welton St.
- Botanic Gardens Ticket Centers, 1007 York St.
- , 1340 Pennsylvania St.
- The Ramble Hotel, 2450 Larimer St.
- River North Stormwater Outfall, Arkins Ct., between 31st and 35th streets
- Punch Bowl Social – Stapleton, 3120 N. Uinta St.
- The Rainbow Crosswalk, Broadway and Irvington Street
- The Circa Building, 1615 Platte St.
- The Bosler House, 3209 W. Fairview Place
- Black and White House @ Sloan’s Lake, 4200 W. 23rd Ave.
