The History of the Alliance Center
The Kennicott-Patterson Transfer and Storage building, also known as the Otero building and currently serving as the Alliance Center, was built c. 1908 with Denver building permit #1329. The building is a contributing structure in the National, State, and Local Historic Register District of Lower Downtown. The building was originally used as a warehouse and has all of the architectural features typically associated with 20th Century Commercial buildings. All of these elements have been retained at the Kennicott-Patterson building. This area was the center of the wholesale business activity in the early 20th century and the loading docks which allowed this commerce to continue, along with the rail spurs, are still visible. The structure typifies commerce and business structures of the early 20th century.
The building was originally constructed by the Higgins Investment Company. In 1908, the Higgins Investment Company decided to take advantage of the successful and growing business in the area around Union Station on the west side of downtown Denver. The small two story buildings from 1520 to 1536 Wynkoop Street were quickly over-shadowed by larger, more substantial buildings, such as the Morey Mercantile building on the corner of 16th and Wynkoop Streets. The investment company built a five-story brick warehouse measuring 50 X 115 located at 1536 Wynkoop Street. The new structure replaced the two-story structures which were originally on the site. By 1908 the Kennicott-Patterson Transfer and Storage company located one of their growing number of warehouses for storage in the building at 1536 Wynkoop Street. As their name makes clear, the company was in the business of moving and storing a wide variety of goods. As of 1911 they no longer occupied the building. The service quickly outgrew the small storage space and expanded into a large brick warehouse across the street right next to Union Station at 1547 Wynkoop Street.
By the early 1920s, Merchant Transfer and Storage Company used the building for warehousing. They stayed in the building until 1933. After about a year of sitting vacant during the depression, Gate Rubber Company took over the building until 1939. In 1936, Morey Mercantile expanded its business onto the site from its buildings next door, for three years sharing the space with the Gate Rubber Company. Morey continued to use the building through the years of World War II, until their sale to Consolidated Food Products in 1956.
In the early 1960s, despite the economic downturn in the area, the building at 1536 Wynkoop continued to be occupied by a variety of small businesses including Dawes Laboratories, Inc., Alpine Warehousing and Transfer, Peters-De Laet Company and Leggett and Platt. From 1975 to 1983, no businesses were listed located in the building at 1536 Wynkoop Street. In the 1970s BNC Engineers bought the aging building and began a major renovation to turn the building into office space. This corresponds to the date of the most significant changes to the exterior of the building, including a set-back elevator addition. It is assumed that the original windows were replaced with aluminum windows at this time.
In 1990, the building was empty and the mortgage holder, Otero Savings took title of the building. Otero Savings was then swept up in the bank failures with the building at 1536 Wynkoop Street, the parking lot at 1522 Wynkoop Street and a number of other buildings in Lower Downtown as part of the Resolution Trust Corporation savings and loan cleanup. In 1990, Joyce Meskis of the Tattered Cover purchased the building as a part of a larger purchase of buildings along Wynkoop and 16th Streets to be a part of her growing Tattered Cover Bookstores. From this warehouse location and the building next door, the Tattered Cover shipped, received, and warehoused their stock of books. First for their flagship store in Cherry Creek, then also for the second store in the former Morey Mercantile flagship location at the corner of 16th and Wynkoop Streets. Over the next several years, Ms. Meskis also leased space to a number of nonprofit organizations. The building was also home to the first offical offices of the Wynkoop Brewing Company.
In 2004, the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado purchased the building with the intent of creating the Alliance Center, a showcase and educational outreach center promoting sustainability and the reuse of historic structures to achieve sustainable cities. The building underwent major energy efficient and high performance systems renovations in 2004 to provide a sustainable, collaborative office and meeting space environment for the community.
