Larimer Street is Denver's oldest commercial street. In 1873, when William Gallup and Frederick Stanbury built their dry goods and hardware store at 1426 Larimer, the block was already the commercial heart of the city — loud, dusty, and full of miners, teamsters, and merchants. The Gallup-Stanbury Building is Denver Landmark #22, and today it stands as one of the anchor buildings of Larimer Square, the historic district that almost didn't survive. Denver Historic Landmarks Map

William Gallup and Frederick Stanbury opened their store in 1873, selling dry goods and hardware to a clientele that included miners outfitting for the mountains, ranchers resupplying from trail drives, and the growing population of Denver's residential neighborhoods. Larimer Street in the 1870s–1880s was Denver's commercial spine — post office, banks, general stores, and, increasingly, saloons.

By the 1880s, the ground floor of the building housed a saloon, a common evolution for frontier commercial real estate. Larimer Street had by then earned a reputation as Denver's roughest block — "Skid Row" in local parlance — filled with gambling halls, brothels, and the kind of establishments that served the city's transient population of miners and laborers between seasons.

The block might have been demolished in the 1960s, when urban renewal was clearing "blighted" historic areas across American cities, if not for preservationist Dana Crawford. In 1965, Crawford was offered the entire Larimer Square block for $1 million. She assembled investors, purchased it, and led a restoration that turned Denver's most disheveled street into its most charming historic district. Larimer Square's 1971 historic district designation was one of the first in Colorado and pioneered the model of adaptive reuse that has since defined Denver's approach to urban preservation. Denver's Oldest Landmarks

The Gallup-Stanbury Building is Italianate commercial brick — the dominant style for Denver's 1870s commercial construction. The facade features cast-iron elements on the upper floors, decorative corbeling at the roofline, and the arched window openings that characterize Larimer Square's cohesive 19th-century streetscape. Crawford's restoration returned the building to its approximate 1870s appearance, stripping later alterations and reintroducing period details. Explore Denver

Dana Crawford's 1965 purchase of Larimer Square is one of the great stories in American urban preservation. She was told the block was too far gone, too expensive, and too old to save. She disagreed, raised the money, and proved that historic commercial fabric could be both preserved and economically viable — a model that later influenced preservation efforts in dozens of American cities.

The saloon that occupied the ground floor of the Gallup-Stanbury Building in the 1880s kept tabs for Denver's mining population. Bar tabs were a financial instrument in frontier economies: a miner would leave for the mountains in spring, grubstaked by a tab at the saloon, and settle up in the fall if the season had been good.

<strong>Gallup-Stanbury Building — 1426 Larimer Street, Larimer Square</strong><br/>Exterior viewable at all times (public street).<br/>Interior: retail/restaurant tenants (varies).<br/>Free history tours of Larimer Square on select dates — check larimersquare.com.<br/>Nearest RTD: Union Station — 10-minute walk east on Larimer Street.

Larimer Square is at the 1400 block of Larimer Street in LoDo, a 10-minute walk east from Union Station. Union Station is served by RTD A, B, C, E, and W light rail lines. Parking is available in LoDo garages. The entire Larimer Square block is pedestrian-friendly and walkable.

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