When Larimer Square owner Jeff Hermanson and partners introduced plans in February to redevelop Denver’s most historic block and add two tall buildings there, it was sure to make waves.
This week, with the proposal on ice as Hermanson gathers feedback, Larimer Square has landed on a list of America’s most endangered historic places.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation for 31 years has been creating a list of places that capture American architectural and cultural heritage that it feels are at risk of damage of destruction because of natural or man-made forces. In an unranked list released Tuesday morning, the Trust counts Larimer Square among the 11 most endangered places in the country for 2018 because of “an inappropriate development proposal that calls for partial demolition of several buildings, (and) the potential construction of two towers,” according to a news release.
“LoDo has emerged as a center of cultural and commercial activity in Denver largely because of Larimer Square’s historic charm, not in spite of it,” National Trust president and CEO Stephanie K. Meeks wrote in an email. “We urge stakeholders to work together to find strategies that assert the district’s ongoing relevance to modern Denver without sacrificing its authenticity and integrity.”
For Hermanson, redevelopment in some form is critical to the long-term survival of the district he has owned for more than 25 years. He and his partners argue the 19th century buildings there need intensive preservation work and growth is a path to funding its needs. Their now-shelved proposal calls for two new structures rising from the opposite alleys of the 1400 block of Larimer Street. One would house a hotel, bar and restaurant, the other apartments. Both would exceed existing height limits.
“While we agree that the block is endangered, it’s not as a result of development plans, but rather of time,” Hermanson said in an email Monday. “While we initially shared a proposed vision for the block with some of the city’s leaders, we tabled all development talk soon thereafter in favor of a community-driven dialogue to explore solutions.”
Hermanson convened the first meeting of the Larimer Square Advisory Committee on June 18. The body — which includes more than 50 city officials, architects, and preservation advocates including Dana Crawford, the block’s former owner that led the charge for its preservation — is being asked to help come up with “solutions that most benefit the block,” Hermanson said. The National Trust for Historical Preservation, which has a Denver office, has a seat at that table.
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Other places on the trust’s 2018 list include historical sites in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the aftermath of last year’s deadly Hurricane Maria, and public school buildings in Los Angeles that were the sites of Chicano student walkouts in 1968, now being considered for demolition.
For advocates, allowing modern additions to Larimer Square would undermine the protection ordinance that in 1971 established it as the city’s first historic district. Denver now has 53 such places. Trust officials say it helped set a national example for how preservation can work as a tool for economic development.
“As Denver’s first historic district, Larimer Square is critically important to the city, but the National Trust’s Endangered listing highlights Larimer’s national importance as well,” Colorado Preservation Inc. executive director Jennifer Orrigo Charles said in an email Monday.
To view the list, visit www.SavingPlaces.org/11Most.
