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Denver’s Larimer Square: Successful Historic Preservation and Business Model Larimer Square is a preservation project for profit. A 14-member group was formed in 1965 to begin the restoration of a one-block-long cluster of buildings in the 1400 block of Denver's notorious Larimer Street. Committed to urban life and determined “to recapture the gay and boisterous spirit of Denver's youthful era,” they are converting 18 neglected Victorian-age structures to viable 20"-century use.' Dana Crawford, 1968. From the inception of Larimer Square as a historic preservation project, the generation of profit was the main goal. Each of the businessmen and women and investors that backed the project from its early days were in it just for that, for profit. They were a financial springboard with which Dana Crawford, leader of the Larimer Square project, would be able to launch the old and deteriorating neighborhood in Denver to one of economic success and residential occupancy after the years it spent known as Denver's “Skid Row.” But the neighborhood was not only going to be used as a business district for the residents of Denver; Dana Crawford and her colleagues had a strong passion and desire to help physically preserve a neighborhood from Denver's past. They wanted to combine the past history of Denver with an optimistic vision of the future. What they wanted to accomplish was to save buildings from demolition during urban renewal for future generations to visit and enjoy while creating an economic shopping center full of eclectic shops and restaurants for the middle class. By doing this, she and her associates helped to bring about a new era of historic preservation: one that combined the reuse of old city buildings (instead of destroying them and building new ones) with that of financially successful shopping centers. The outcome of their project was a city center that is still open today, full of shops that sell small, luxury goods. In striving to preserve Denver's history, Crawford and the Larimer Square Associates chose what history to represent, and it does not reflect the true history of the street. ' Crawford, Dana. “Economics of Rehabilitated Downtown Areas,” Historic Preservation 21:1 (1969), p. 29. Historiography The history of urban cities in America is a topic that has been looked at closely in the last few decades by many scholars, architects, and government officials. This story came about as the United States, having emerged from World War Il, saw a shift of populations from the downtown centers of cities to the suburban housing that sprang up quickly in the 1950s. Historian Alison Isenberg wrote about this story in her book, Downtown America. She chronicled the changes of the American downtown city and preservation projects that use nostalgia in order to draw in shoppers. In post-World War II America, a majority of citizens moved out from downtown area to the surrounding suburbs. City planners became obsessed with revitalizing their cities in order to draw in shoppers and keep a healthy and busy economic sphere in the immediate downtown area? This obsession proved to be problematic more often than not, because business planers and investors had a focus that was oftentimes too narrow. They would strive to appeal to one demographic, while systematically ignoring the minority residents who still lived in the downtown. White, middle-aged housewives were the ideal customer to many city planners, and therefore they strove to appeal to these female shopper This is why many early cases of downtown revitalization failed. There are consumers in every community, and therefore preservation, urban renewal, and revitalization projects should be focused on the diversity of available retail stores and restaurants in order to cater to as many customers as possible. Authors such as Alison Isenberg point to city planners using urban renewal to create shopping centers through the use of nostalgia. This refers to creating a downtown that is imagined, and not historically accurate. Other authors see urban planning suecess stories in 2 Alison Isenberg, Downtown America, (Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 2004), p. 166-202. Isenberg, Downtown America, p. 166-202. Crawford and her colleagues invoked a nostalgic history. In other words, the true past that Larimer Street had seen was erased and a bright, family oriented shopping center was opened. Another way that historians have looked at urban renewal is through the lens of political economy. Of course politics and politicians are involved with urban renewal projects. planners must receive special permits in order to raze or renovate any building in downtown, and thus they must speak with politicians in order to gain access to these projects. Economically, though, politicians can have little control over a city’s job market. Chicago, like most other American cities in the 1950s and 1960s, saw a change in the job market.° Chicago was an industrial city, to an extent like most cities were during World War II, and after the war had ended, these cities experienced a period of deindusttialization. Job loss occurred as suburbs were built and populations moved away from the downtown region in order to create different lives for themselves and their families. This reached a peak in the 1960s in Chicago. Politicians then stepped in, and Mayors Richard Daley and Michael Bilandic began a “downtown cultural and aesthetic retention strategy” for Chicago, Historian David Wilson has noted. This strategy took place in the 1970s and helped to beautify downtown Chicago and create a new and different job market, as well as opportunities to change the city. Wilson also pointed out that “Historical preservation helped to lessen [the] decline” that so many American cities were experiencing” ‘The historical preservation that took place in Denver can also be related to the job market as it was in Chicago. In both of the economic crashes of 1893 and the 1920s, Denver suffered and residents lost jobs. The people who would frequent Larimer Street began to live on it as they lost their jobs, incomes and homes. Meanwhile, the city spread outward and businesses moved © David Wilson, “Making Historical Preservation in Chicago: Discourse and Spatiality in Neo-liberal Times,” Space ‘and Polity 8:1 (April 2004), p. 47. ? Wilson, “Making Historical Preservation in Chicago.” p. 47 ethnic foods featured, from Indian to Mexican to American. These stores were nothing like the original stores on Larimer Street, which served a mining and cowboy population and sold survival goods and groceries.'* The History of Larimer Street In order to understand Larimer Square as the upscale shopping center it is today, the history of the Street itself should be reviewed. The choices that the Larimer Square Associates ‘made in their renovations rewrote and erased a large portion of Larimer Street’s actual history. This choice was made consciously in order to create a vibrant and welcoming shopping center with upscale boutique stores that would cater to upper and middle class residents of suburban Denver. Annual events were created that were family oriented, such as the yearly Larimer Street Christmas Walk. This was done in order to bring residents and their money into Larimer Street, and away from the suburban malls in order to give the locations new life. The street had experienced 70 years of deterioration and had eamed the reputation of Denver's Skid Row by the start of the twentieth century. Looking at the true history of the Street will reveal a story different than what is celebrated and seen today in the stores of Larimer Square. The location of the city of Denver was chosen in response to the gold rush of 1858 that brought miners and settlers to the territory. ‘The miners settled first at the location that is now where Speer Boulevard meets Cherry Creek. This settlement was named by its occupants as Auraria, Shortly thereafter, on the other side of Cherry Creek, another group of miners settled as well, a the location that is now 15" Street and Larimer Street. The men who originally laid claim to this location called the camp Saint Charles. Yet a man named William H. Larimer arrived at the camp and jumped the claim. His party decided to name the claim Denver City population boomed. Many of the buildings that are now preserved as historical landmarks were built during this time. It remained popular and a central business hub until the Silver Crash in 1893. From 1893 to 1900, Larimer Street had 55 saloons spring up, and 1/3 of Denver's gambling dens were housed here as well. It was during this time that Larimer Street became a home for vagrants, drunks and drifters.'* During its earliest years, Larimer Street was praised and loved by the inhabitants of Denver, Even tourists who came to visit the city were told by boosters to visit Larimer Street. A historian of his time, Junius E. Wharton, wrote in his 1866 history of Denver that Larimer Street was “perhaps the finest street in the city.”"° Another author, William Thayer, in 1888, went so far as to compare Denver to New York City. He wrote that Larimer Street was like the famous street Broadway, and that visitors could see the American mix of the west with the east. “Eastem solidity, tact, and forethought seem to be mixed up with Westem dash, in about equal parts, The result is a bustling, thriving, inspiring scene,” and that Larimer was a center for “enterprise, stability, and rush.”!” The Denver Daily Hotel Reporter boasted in 1880 that tourists to the new city outnumbered its residents. '* Yet a few others, oftentimes residents of the city, spoke about the physical landscape in another way completely. Complaints were filed with government officials and among storeowners to the public that the street should be taken care of in a better, more appealing way. ‘The street was, of course, a dirt road, and the walkway was made of wooden planks with many ‘gaps, making walking along the storefronts a problem for the tourists and growing population. In 1871, the Rocky Mountain News published a resident’s letter who complained, “Where are the "8 "Historie Larimer Square Denver Colorado | Larimer Square." The Best Shopping, Restaurants and Entertainment in Downtown Denver Colorado are on Larimer Square. htp://www.larimersquare.comhistory ™ Noel, Denver's Larimer Street, p. 8. Noel, Denver's Larimer Street, p. 17. ™ Noel, Denver's Larimer Street, p. 17. u the financial center of the city.”* Larimer Street was beginning to be neglected and overlooked, and so other residents decided to move in. Larimer Street ended up being called Denver's “Skid Row.” Skid Row refers to a street in Seattle where ships were built and timber was sent down the road to the dockyards. The street, Yessler Way, was nicknamed Skid Road and later became the home for the city’s homeless and alcoholic population.’* Other cities in America would experience similar situations where working class men and homeless would drink and sleep in the alleys and streets, and these areas would also become known as Skid Row. Larimer Street became such a street. Many of the buildings that were once stores became flophouses and saloons to cater to the street’s clientele. Larimer Street had always been an area for the working class residents of Denver, and as the times changed and the city grew outward, away from Larimer Street, the neighborhood shifted as the working class did too. As many lost jobs or only worked for day laborers or for seasonal positions, they would sleep in the flophouse rooms or in the street. Many drank in any one of the 55 saloons that lined the street by 1898. By 1900, Larimer Street had earned its new title, as Denver's Skid Row.”* Vices were an important part of life on Larimer Street, In the first decade of the 1900s, the Denver Post and The Rocky Mountain News, along with other, smaller publications, reported on the state of the once famous and bustling street. The Denver Times reported that pomography could be viewed in pictures boxes found on the street in 1902. Prostitution was supposedly running so rampant that a Dance Hall was shut down at 1415 Larimer, because “floosies” and the “worst” women in town were patrons there. And The Rocky Mountain News reported on a rat % Noel, Denver's Larimer Street, p. 18. % Noel, Denver's Larimer Street, p. 19. * Noel, Denver's Larimer Street, p. 19. 1B Historie Preservation and Tax Breaks Launch Larimer Square into a New Era It was as thus that Larimer Street entered the 1960s. Many of the buildings that lined the 1400 block of the street had been boarded up and closed for quite a time, and thus were neglected as a viable economic center for 70 years. In the years following the end of World War I, many important legislative factors contributed to making the preservation of Larimer Square and other historic neighborhoods in cities around America possible. Congress had passed an act called the Antiquities Act in 1906, but this act specifically dealt with Indian sites, ruins and artifacts. It did not extend to historical buildings in metropolitan areas yet. A few decades later, in 1935, Congress passed another act. This one was the Historie Sites Act, and it strove to preserve and set aside sites in America that were of historical and national importance. The most important aspect that came out of the Historic Sites Act for future preservation projects was the Historic American Building Survey. This survey catalogued buildings across America. In short, it was a “national architecture archive.” Further ideas that were presented to the government helped to bring urban renewal projects into a modem, business oriented era. Robert M. Utley, director of the National Park Service’s Division of History Studies presented a model that would change historic preservation projects actoss America. Utley, along with his colleagues at the National Park Service, had been looking into extending conserving “built environments” in order to extend their influence. The important factor that Utley presented though, which previous directors in his position had not, was the concept of distinguishing between “new” preservation and “old” preservation when it came to the built environment. Historian Judy Morley described this as such: “According to Utley, ‘old’ preservation. ..saved ‘a few shrines of transcendent significance’... whereas “new” * Morley, Historic Preservation and the Imagined West, p. 3 15 architects. ..to promote the development of inner-city historic districts as shopping areas.”*> This idea would be used by Dana Crawford to popularize Larimer Square as a shopping district full of small boutiques and restaurants. Dana Crawford, the Urban Visionary and her Larimer Square Project Dana Hudkins Crawford was born in Kansas in 1931, She attended college at the University of Kansas and also spent one year in the Harvard-Radcliffe’s Business Management Program. Her education prepared her for the career path she chose when she moved to Denver, Colorado in 1954." Previous to her work in downtown Denver and the creation of her business Larimer Square Associates, Dana met and married John W. R. Crawford III. They had four sons together, and after spending time raising them while volunteering for the Denver Art Museum, Crawford decided that she would like to do other work. Interested in the Larimer Street area, she ended up purchasing the block so it would be saved from demolition in the Denver Skyline Project. Taking the stance that Utley had to historic preservation, Crawford understood that in order to successfully restore a decrepit and run-down city block, she would need to do more than refurbish old buildings. Crawford purchased the 1400 block of Larimer Street with her own private funds and was pushing forward plans to renovate the neighborhood. Yet Crawford’s ambitions were not only in striving for financial success. She also felt a historical connection and desire to save the area. But the history that Dana Crawford chose to recreate was not one of the last 70 years of the street’s true experiences. Instead, Crawford drew on her own desires of what should be saved and restored as the city’s historic quarter. Gone would be the saloons and drunks in the street. No more would those walking Larimer Square’s storefronts see tamale 3 Morley, Historie Preservation and the Imagined Wes, p 4-5 % “The LaDo Mural Project: Dana Hudkins Crawford.” Autry National Center. hiiptheautry.orgexplorelexhibit/lodo/dana him 7 other restored urban areas," she stated.” The restoration of Larimer Square was a practical business move, as well. ‘The predominant school of architecture that became popular after World War Il featured straight lines without any sort of embellishment or ornate carvings attached to the buildings. These buildings were oftentimes erected as skyscrapers, up to eight stories and taller. At the time that this style beeame popular, the tallest building in Larimer Square was only 4 stories tall and sat (as it does today) at the comer of 15" and Larimer. This is the same site where General Larimer built the first house in Denver. The critique of the new architectural style was one that Dana Crawford agreed with. It was stated that skyscrapers “overwhelm[ed] pedestrians [and that] the high rises caused crowding, lack of sunlight, and the destruction of a human scale city.“ Crawford would seek to bring back that human scale to the city, and not just for any humans, but also for families. Larimer Square, her creation, would not only be home to a new economic center, but it would be a pleasant and safe place for middle class shoppers to stroll with their families, unlike the Larimer Street of just ten years prior. Dick Johnston, a Denver Post staff business writer, recorded the changes to what quickly became known as Larimer Square for the public to read in the 1960s. He chronicled the transformation that Larimer underwent and reported on it with a positive point of view. In December 1966, he wrote, “Twenty-one shops and restaurants and a theatre are now open at Larimer Square where the emphasis is on leisurely shopping in settings both very old and very new. Johnston's article focused mostly on business: who was shopping, what stores were available, and how successful they were. Even holiday events for the public had been planned and were a success. The Denver Post reported, “Mrs. Crawford estimated that 15,000 persons * Crawford, “Economics of Rehabilitated Downtown Areas,” p. 31 * Goodstein, Denver in Our Time, Volume 1, p. 282. * Denver Post, December 5, 1966, p. 50. 19 ‘The Denver Post described the changes in the city as such: “A Denver project many skeptics said three years ago was ‘an unrealistic, nostalgic dream with no chance of economic success’ has reached the boom level with all indicators pointing to more of the same ahead. It's Larimer Square, the dream-come-true of Dana Crawford and her backers.”* Willard Haselbush, the Denver Post Business Editor sang the praises of Larimer Square in 1969, just a few short years after the renovation projects on the street began. Larimer Square had grown dramatically from some of the earlier reports that stated 21 shops were open to the public in 1966 to boasting 43 “business firms in operation” in 1969."° It was reported to the public that Larimer Square was worth being saved during the Skyline Project’s renovations of Downtown Denver. Dana Crawford successfully saved one block of Denver by smartly used to concept of “adaptive reuse” of the buildings in order to do so."” “Workers planted trees and installed flower boxes along Larimer Street. By 1966, many businesses, including. . fashionable boutiques, were open. In no time, Larimer Street was the place to go,” historian Phil Goodstein proclaimed in his book, “Denver in our Time.” In fact, a close look at the Greater Denver Cross-Index Directory (published by Bresser’s) shows the business side of the changes that Crawford made to Larimer Square. Bresser’s Index for Greater Denver begins in 1963, and lists a variety of shops and offices in the 1400 block of Larimer Street. Of the 23 stores and businesses listed in the 1963-1964 directory, only one survived. Located at 1443 Larimer Street, Crest Distributing Company survived at its location well into the twenty first century. Half of the businesses listed in the 1963-1964 and the 1965-1966 * Denver Post, February 24, 1969, p. 47, “ Denver Post, December 5, 1966, p. 50 and February 24, 1969, p. 47. "The LoDo Mural Project: Dana Hudkins Crawford." Autry National Center. bttp:/theautry.orglexplore/exhibitslodovdana.hem * Goodstein, Denver in Our Time, Volume 1, p. 283-284, 2 the Acme lofts at Speer and Blake streets." A tenacious and hardworking woman, Crawford said, “I never plan to retire. I plan to keep working until I go to heaven.”*? Her work has also inspired others in Colorado, Colorado Preservation, Incorporated begun handing out the Dana Crawford Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation in 1990 and has until present. Recipients of the award have worked in areas all over Colorado, from Greeley to Central City. Some of those awarded this honor stated that Crawford was an inspiration to them and their work, considering that she was the pioneer of Denver historical preservation.”? Crawford has also been an inspiration to many people across America. She has been consulted for her expertise and been asked to serve on numerous boards around the nation. She served for nine years on the board of directors of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and was awarded the distinguished Louise DuPont Crowninshield Award, their highest honor in 1995, In Colorado alone, she has served on the board of the Downtown Denver Partnership, and has worked with the Platte River Greenway Foundation, the Denver Art Museum, Historic Denver, Inc., the Colorado Historical Society and Foundation, and the Denver Center for Performing Arts.** This lifetime of work has left a visible impact on the city of Denver. Crawford began working outside of the home in the 1960s because she wanted something to do with her time, What came of that first project was Denver’s most famous block, Larimer Square. In preserving this location, Crawford saved a history of the city that has brought economic success into the new century. 5! Rawlings, “Dana Crawford's Golden Hour,” Colorado Biz (February 1999), ® Rawlings, “Dana Crawford’s Golden Hour,” Colorado Biz (February 1999). % *Colorado Preservation, Inc.” Colorado Preservation, Inc. http:/www.coloradopreservation.or /dca/dea_recipients html "Restore Preserve Protect Austin,” Heritage Society of Austin. wwrw-heritagesocietyaustin org/CrawfordBio pdt 23 Denver’s history. Instead, money is to be spent on luxury items for the people who would have not been seen shopping on Larimer Street just fifty years ago. ‘And such was the story of Larimer Street from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s. Many histories of the street and of Larimer Square will boast about its early days as the sight of Denver City’s beginnings, and will sing praises to the preservation work done by Dana Crawford and the Larimer Square Associates, but will leave out the less than glamorous years where many called Larimer Street their home. From 1900 to 1965, many spent time in and around the streets that would become Larimer Square, looking for work or a place to sleep and drinking when neither was a priority. And many of those who lived there had come to terms with their lot in life and made the best of their situation. As such, Larimer Street truly was their home. Folksinger U. Utah Phillips wrote a song called “Larimer Street Lament” that personified some of the sentiments about the renovations that were taking place on Larimer Street and throughout Denver with the Skyline Project’s changes to the city: Your bulldozers rolling through my part of town, The iron ball swings and knocks it all down; You knocked down my flop-house, you knocked down my bars, ‘And you black-topped it over to park all your cars, (Chorus) And where will I go? And where will I stay? When you've knocked down the skid road and hauled it away? T'll flag a fast rattler and ride it on down, boys, They’re mmning the bums out of town. Old Maxie the tailor is closing his doors, There ain’t nothing left in the second hand stores; You knocked down my pawn shop and the big harbour light, And the old Chinese Café that was open all night. (Chorus) You ran out the hookers who worked on the street, And you built a big hall were the playboys can meet; My bookie joint closed when your cops pulled a raid, But you built a new hall for the stock-market trade. (Chorus) 25 that house modem business and homes are old and a true part of the history of Denver, yet their story has been hidden from pedestrians, These buildings, with their intricate facades and unique masonry, lend to the atmosphere of a neighborhood, but do not accurately record or recount the true history of Larimer Street. They instead work to create a feeling of “the past” that is ideal and romanticized, but not realistic. Gone are the homeless, the alcoholies, the flop-houses and gambling dens. In their place a family friendly neighborhood has arisen among the buildings with boutiques and stores for the upper classes. Nevertheless, Denver is looking forward to the future of economic promise. While strolling down Larimer Street, visitors can view historical buildings, yet the story of the street should be told. Larimer Square is a success story, and should be praised as such. In order to do so accurately, its story must be told. Laver Square in 2010,

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