This article is a part of Denverite's Street Week: Tennyson series. We're exploring the area by way of the history, people, carp-filled lakes and weird houses that define it. Read more Tennyson stories here.
From inside the freezing cold Historic Elitch Theatre, a wooden landmark and the original home of Denver's downtown amusement park, are seats that are a century old. Eight dark brown chairs from the 1890s with skinny black legs were taken from the venue's balcony and placed front and center as a symbol of the venue's longstanding history on the north side of Denver.
Entering Phase 4 of the theater's decades-long restoration project, The Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre Foundation is now looking to host live theater productions inside the venue next summer for what would be the first time since 1991.
"That's my hope for next summer is that we're finally at that place," said the organization's president Greg Rowley. "We've been through 20 years of restoration work now. Just about two years ago we finished our third phase of restoration which was adding bathrooms."
The organization was formed in 2002 and was tasked with raising funds needed to restore, preserve and maintain both the theater and carousel pavilion. For 10 years after the new Elitch Gardens moved to downtown Denver in 1995, the historic building sat idly by, fenced off and home to a den of foxes that made a cozy home inside.
"You can imagine what 25 foxes can drag in here over time," Rowley said. (Apparently, that included several creepy muddy children's dolls from the neighborhood.)
In 2007, the organization raised nearly $5 million and used it to reconstruct the exteriors of both structures. It's been a tedious process because of the theater's historic landmark designation that Denver City Council unanimously passed in 1995.
"Our architects told us that if we had taken another 5 to 10 years to start the restoration it would've just been sticks on the ground," Rowley said.
In 2012, using a budget of just over $600,000, interior upgrades were made including a fire suppression system. This system would suffer major damage during a 2018 storm that flooded the building and also ruined a handful of archival materials. Approximately $800,000 in damages, including a new roof, was needed to overcome the setback. This was completed in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Now, phase 4 of the restoration includes upgrades needed to host theatrical productions such as lighting, sound and stage rigging. This, however, won't get in the way of hosting smaller productions as early as next summer.
"One of the things we found was we started surveying people who came to our events, and well over half of them are in the 80212 or 80211 zip code, which is right here just across Tennyson," Rowley said. "Our primary market is our neighbors."
This summer was the first in many years that the venue offered public programming, namely free movie nights and tours of the space. Programming doesn't continue into the winter months, as the building is without heat and can oftentimes get colder inside than out.
Let's rewind the clock. John and Mary Elitch purchased the 16-acre Chilcott Farm in 1887.
A successful restaurateur with a passion for theater, John Elitch was known to invest his restaurant earnings into failed theatrical operations. John arrived in Denver in late 1880, eventually joined by his wife Mary in 1882. Together the couple opened their Zoological Gardens and Grand Pavilion Theatre to the public in 1890.
Following a financially successful year for the Elitches operating the canopied Grand Pavilion Theatre, John organized a traveling show performing in Colorado theaters before heading to California. There, he contracted pneumonia and died on March 10, 1891, leaving behind a zoo, botanic gardens and a theater to a 34-year-old widow.
"I always joke that I believe Mary is in here because it makes no sense for a 130-year-old wood building to still be standing," Rowley said. "This is older than the Brown Palace, State Capitol, the current Union Station building."
Seating 650 people and an extra 400 up on the balcony (which will be the focus of Phase 5 restorations), the theater was once home to some of the industry's biggest stars.
Some of the oldest alumni include Antoinette Perry (the namesake for the Tony Awards), legendary director Cecil B. DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, and one of the world's first celebrities, Sarah Bernhardt.
"It was really known to be above and beyond the other theaters," Rowley said. "It was really known as a great way to spend your summer. Come out here, spend your days in the gardens and do some great theater."
Other names entering into the latter half of the century include Robert Redford, Gloria Swanson, Debbie Reynolds, Patty Duke, John Astin and even "Star Trek"'s William Shatner.
The last regular season of theater was the summer of 1987, although the venue did host one production in 1991 for its 100th anniversary. There has been no live theater since, except for the odd play and stage readings.
Looking ahead, Rowley and the board are focused on developing both the theater and the carousel pavilion into a neighborhood hub for the arts.
Their interest is in hosting other theatre companies around the city and state who would be willing to bring their productions to Elitch for a few weeks.
"Our organization really wants to keep it true to what it is and keep it looking how it always did," Rowley said.
They are also working to digitize more of their archival materials and sharing on their website for more people to explore the rich history of what was once the original location of Elitch Gardens.
"I hear from people all the time that everyone in the neighborhood worked here," Rowley said. "It was the hub of Northwest Denver back in the day. We'd love to get people back here."
Read all the stories from Street Week: Tennyson here. (And dip into the Street Week archives with 2021's Morrison Road and 2020's Bruce Randolph.)
