A theater built after fire gutted most of Central City’s buildings in 1874 and an Art Deco band shell in Boulder are among four historically significant places named to Colorado Preservation’s 2016 list of the state’s Most Endangered Places.
“We have selected four unique sites this year that represent some of Colorado’s earliest history and industries,” said program director Jennifer Orrigo Charles. “These places tell the story of our state and its people. The collective impact of our efforts to protect, preserve and promote these significant though threatened historic places is the legacy we leave to future generations.”
The four locations announced Thursday are:
EThe Belvidere Theatre was built after fire swept through Central City. It was originally an opera house.
The two-story, brick structure had business space on the main floor and a 450-seat performing space with a raised stage on the second.
It opened in 1875 but was replaced three years later by the Central City Opera.
The building, which closed in 2002, has housed a bottling works, various retail outlets, a basketball court and dinner theater.
EThe Tabor Opera House in Leadville was financed by one of Colorado’s best-known mining magnates, Horace Austin Warner Tabor, and opened on Nov. 20, 1879.
Its stage has played host to Harry Houdini, John Philip Sousa, Oscar Wilde and other luminaries, according to a history on the opera house’s website.
The three-story building included two retail stores on the first floor, a theater on the second and a third floor that connected to the adjacent Clarendon Hotel.
EThe Glen Huntington Bandshell, an Art Deco gem in Boulder’s Central Park, was built in 1938 by local architect Glen Huntington and prominent landscape architect Saco DeBoer.
Huntington, who also designed the nearby art deco Boulder County Courthouse, modeled the bandshell after one at the Hollywood Bowl.
It is one of only a few bandshells that survive and has been a location for public gatherings and civic events.
• The Great Western Sugar Factory in Brighton is one of six sugar beet processing factories that remain of 13 once operated in Colorado by the Great Western Sugar Co.
The company began building the factory on Sept. 15, 1916, and its state-of-the-art equipment and landscaping led to a reputation as the company’s showcase facility.
Colorado Preservation has produced the annual list since 1998 to promote awareness of historically significant places in the state that are in danger of being lost.
Since its inception, the list has highlighted 110 historic sites. Thirty-nine of those have been saved from destruction, and six were destroyed.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671, tmcghee@denverpost.com or @dpmcghee
