|
Constitution Hall - #31
1507-1509 Blake Street
|
||
|
Architectural style: Second Empire Baroque, Nineteenth-Century Commercial Built: 1866 Architect: Unknown Cost: $45,000 |
||
|
This site was the first home of the First National Bank of Denver. Ebenezer Smith, a founding stockholder and director of the bank, constructed the building in 1866. Smith was a colorful character who came to Colorado in 1860 and was involved in mining, banking, and railroading. The bank first occupied the corner rooms of the lower story of the two-story red brick structure. During its ten-year occupancy, the bank improved the building by installing gaslights and enlarging the directors' rooms. The third-story fish-scale, slate, mansard roof was added in 1875. In the winter of 1875-76, delegates to the state's Constitutional Convention met here to draw up a state constitution in anticipation of Colorado being admitted to the Union as the thirty-sixth state. From that time on, the building was known as Constitution Hall. The bank moved to a larger building at 16th and Larimer Streets in 1876. In the following years numerous businesses occupied this building, such as the Inland Box and Label Company, Morris Brothers Brokerage Company, and Goldberg's Harness Shop. In more recent times the Stores Equipment Company used this as one of a number of their locations in Lower Downtown. In 1968 the building was designated a Denver landmark and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. In 1977 an arsonist set fire to the building. The facade, which was saved during the fire, was subsequently demolished after it was found to be structurally unsound. |
||
|
|
||
