The project, however, could not go ahead, Hermanson said, with a partner who had “his finger on your chest, a partner not very comfortable with change or risk.” The 120-year-old station’s $54 million transformation into a hotel, shops, restaurants and bars - now set to open July 26 - was to be a capstone in Denver’s march from a polluted, declining city to one of the nation’s fastest-growing urban areas. A day earlier, two of the men, Walter Isenberg, CEO of hotelier Sage Hospitality, and Jeff Hermanson, CEO of restaurant and retail developer Larimer Associates, had, in Hermanson’s words, “fired” their equity partner on the project to reanimate Denver’s Union Station. 4, 2012, three Denver real estate developers sat down for a hastily arranged breakfast at the Egg Shell in Cherry Creek. National Register of Historic Places, Union Station, Denver, Denver County, Colorado, National Register#74000571.Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close MenuĪt 6:30 a.m. The economic potential of the site was eventually realized and, after restoration, the building now services bus lines and expanded light rail and houses retail space, the Crawford Hotel and a redesigned public square in the front.Ĭarter-Birken, P. until post-war automobiles and airplanes caused its popularity to plummet. The renovation completed in 2014 was spurred by dilapidation. In 1914, this new center section was replaced again with an even larger Great Hall to accommodate increased use. An electrical fire started by a chandelier in the ladies room destroyed much of the central portion of the station and resulted in a larger depot being built in 1894. The different building phases that contributed to Union Station’s appearance had varying impetus. Medallions and flutings decorate the stone here. This portion of Union Station holds sets of double windows in keyed arch surrounds and a hipped roof with dormers. The two wings are constructed of volcanic stone with pink sandstone trim. Above this, the name“Union Station,” then a decorative boxed cornice, carved panels, a clock and a sign reading “Travel by Train” that was added as promotion when train travel was plummeting in the U.S. On either side are large niches abundant with carved stone details that include the dates of the major building phases: 18. Here, the main entrance presents visitors with a large metal awning wrapping the front underneath three large, two-story arched windows surrounded by scalloped and grooved design work with centered scrolls at their peaks. This highly ornamented block is constructed of granite on a steel frame and sits centered on the axis of 17th Street with the front façade pushed forward to create hardscaped courts on either side. The central portion is the focal point in terms of size and design. The two lower wings, also Italian Romanesque, were built in 1892. The central section is a three-story Neoclassical rectangle built in 1914, the two outer wings were part of the original construction and are done in an Italian Romanesque style that dates to 1881. The building is some 880 feet long and is comprised of structures built in three different times. Eleven years later, when the owners of Denver’s four major rail companies agreed to pool their resources and build a large, combined station, Denver’s Union Station was constructed. They collaborated to build the 106-mile spur that connected Denver to Cheyenne, Wyoming and a second connection to Kansas City, Kansas to secure Denver’s link to the resources and capital that soon flowed from the coasts. Foreseeing the potential disaster in excluding Denver from not only the commercial benefits of transcontinental rail access but, more importantly, the heavy mining equipment that would be needed for the continued growth of the gold and silver economy, prominent Denverites acted quickly. The first transcontinental rail line had been finished a year prior but had bypassed the difficult terrain of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains in favor of the lower mountain passes of Wyoming. The long story of Denver’s Union Station begins in 1870, the year the railroad came to Denver.
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