On October 16, 2025, Historic Denver will recognize eight people and projects that have made significant contributions to preserving Denver’s unique architectural and cultural heritage at its 55th annual Gala held at Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel.
“We’re excited to celebrate this evening alongside 400 of Denver’s civic and business leaders, design professionals, respected craftspeople, and local advocates, all united in preserving our city’s unique identity and diverse stories,” Historic Denver President and CEO John Deffenbaugh said. “Together, we’ll honor the remarkable people and projects that anchor Denver’s culture and provide for a vibrant future. Award winners exemplify a commitment to maintaining the city’s historic fabric and telling its stories while embracing the principles of inclusivity, sustainability, and adaptive reuse.”
2025 HISTORIC DENVER INDIVIDUAL HONOREES
KEYSTONE AWARD
The Historic Denver Keystone Award honors those who have made significant contributions over their lifetime to historic preservation in Denver.
Alan Golin Gass
Alan Golin Gass’ influence on Denver’s built environment extends well beyond architecture and design. After a chance meeting with Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus Movement, Gass switched direction from chemistry to architecture. At I.M. Pei & Associates, Gass contributed to projects like the Mile High Center (now part of the Wells Fargo Center), Zeckendorf Plaza (lost), and the Kips Bay Plaza residential complex in New York. Following his Harvard training, the fourth generation Denverite returned to Denver and gained experience working on the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, located at 1961 Stout St. Gass became an expert in the architectural applications of solar energy as well as in educational facility design. The 300,000-square-foot Front Range Community College building in Westminster (originally Community College of Denver North) featured an innovative solar-assisted heat pump of more than 35,000 square feet of flat-plate solar thermal panels—potentially the largest solar-heated educational building in the world. The unique Modernist house Gass designed as his own home was completed in East Denver in 1961 and was unanimously approved by the Denver City Council for landmark status in 2023. The Alan Golin Gass House, which remains Gass’ primary residence today, features a prominent roof with overhanging eaves and a raised dome skylight.
ANN LOVE AWARD
The Ann Love Award honors individuals who may not consider themselves traditional preservationists but have shown initiative, creativity, and commitment in preserving the history, culture and architecture of Denver. The award is named for former Colorado First Lady Ann Love, a founder of Historic Denver.
Derek Okubo
Derek Okubo has spent his life working for the greater good. A lifelong Coloradoan, Okubo began his career at Big Brothers of Metro Denver (now Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado) before stints at the Office of the Governor under Roy Romer and more than 18 years with the National Civic League. In July 2011, Okubo was appointed by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to lead the Denver Agency for Human Rights & Community Partnerships (HRCP). In this role, Okubo spent a dozen years overseeing several city offices and advisory commissions that focus on key issues affecting Denverites, such as anti-discrimination efforts, disability rights, and immigrant and refugee affairs. This combination of public policy and executive leadership has translated directly to community solutions. Okubo has led efforts to recognize and capture the oral histories and physical places that mark difficult chapters of history, such as Japanese American incarceration during World War II. Owing to a personal connection—three generations of Okubo’s family were forcibly imprisoned at Camp Granada (now Amache National Historic Site) in southern Colorado—he was part of a larger effort to preserve what remains of this site.
MARGARET “MOLLY” BROWN AWARD
The Margaret “Molly” Brown Award was created to honor those who live in “The Unsinkable” Mrs. Brown’s spirit today by devoting many years to civic life in all its forms, actively engaging themselves in politics, philanthropy, arts and cultural endeavors, and historic preservation.
Roz Duman
Like Margaret Brown, Roz Duman is also known for her civic engagement and fearless activism. The Denver-based civil rights and humanitarian advocate served as a staff aide to Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder—the first Colorado woman elected to Congress who served the Centennial State in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 1997. She also served as Denver Mayor Wellington Webb’s director of scheduling, and was later appointed to director of volunteerism for the City of Denver under Mayor Webb, and volunteer coordinator for U.S. Senator Ken Salazar’s successful senatorial campaign. She has also volunteered her time with the Jewish Relations Council at Jewish Colorado and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission. Duman’s local work to preserve Jewish history and heritage are perhaps best highlighted by the key role she played in the efforts to preserve the home of another historic woman: Golda Meir, Israel’s first and only female Prime Minister and only the third female Prime Minister in history. Meir’s only known extant U.S. residence was moved from the West Colfax neighborhood twice before finding a permanent home on the Auraria Campus in 1988. As founder and executive director of the Coalition Against Global Genocide (CoAGG), Duman continues to drive awareness and action against genocide to prevent needless violence and human rights violations all over the world.
2025 COMMUNITY PRESERVATION AWARD WINNERS
Community Preservation Awards are given annually to projects, institutions and individuals that have made an exceptional contribution to the preservation of Denver’s heritage. These projects exemplify high quality restoration, the careful consideration of the city’s historic fabric, and a commitment to community.
Far East Center
Barely a decade after escaping Vietnam, the Luong family acquired the 2.5-acre property now home to the Far East Center. In the beginning, it was a place for others displaced from Southeast Asia to find a little taste of their former homes. In the decades since, the shopping center has become a powerful symbol of resilience, community, and cultural preservation for Denver’s diverse Asian American communities—including Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Lao, and Thai, among others. The 19 small businesses at this vibrant shopping plaza range from markets, gift shops, restaurants, and bakeries, to salons and specialty stores. Together, they provide not only goods and services but also a living connection to traditions and heritage that continues to be passed down through generations. The Far East Center is where culture is lived daily, especially at beloved events like Lunar New Year Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Saigon Azteca Night Markets. Thanks to a grant funded by the Colorado State Historical Fund, this vital cultural and community anchor was added to the Colorado State Register of Historic Places in 2024.
Mosaic Community Campus
The Mosaic Community Campus is a transformative example of adaptive reuse and inclusive, community-driven preservation. Located on the historic former Johnson & Wales University campus—originally home to the Colorado Women’s College, founded in 1909—the site was purchased in 2021 by Urban Land Conservancy (ULC), the Denver Housing Authority, and Denver Public Schools to ensure long-term public benefit and prevent private redevelopment. Today, it stands as a model of how historic preservation, affordable housing, and educational opportunity can be thoughtfully and powerfully integrated. The shared campus includes Denver School of the Arts High School, St. Elizabeth’s School, Dirt Coffee and Kitchen Network, plus 154 affordable apartments for residents earning between 30–60% AMI. In partnership with the State Historic Preservation Office and funded with federal and state tax credits, Archway Communities led the restoration of four historic dormitory buildings held in the ULC community land trust for permanent affordability. The structures are now transformed into residences for more than 300 people, many of whom are new Americans representing at least 11 languages. Shopworks Architects played a critical role in this success, skillfully converting the single-room dormitories into one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments that meet both contemporary needs and historic preservation standards. The campus’s name, chosen through community input, reflects its guiding spirit: a mosaic of backgrounds, experiences, and histories coming together to build something lasting.
Urban Cowboy Denver
After decades as offices, the 17,000-square-foot George Schleier Mansion has been reborn as Urban Cowboy Denver. Founders Lyon Porter and Jersey Banks, in partnership with GBX Group, thoughtfully reimagined the space as a boutique hotel, restaurant, and bar, providing a social gathering space in a fast-developing area of North Capitol Hill near downtown. Urban Cowboy is a living tribute to Denver’s layered story: Schleier was one of Denver’s earliest residents; the German-born immigrant arrived in December of 1858. The grandest and most ornate among prominent architect Frank Edbrooke’s residential designs, Urban Cowboy has painstakingly restored the mansion’s interior to its grandeur. This includes seven fireplaces, ornate plaster ornamentation, stained glass, coffered wood ceilings, and a staircase featuring hand-carved grotesques and swans. Today’s hotel guests experience the same hand-carved floor-to-ceiling bar in the mansion’s parlor, oversized wooden pocket doors complete original hardware, and a Hall’s Safe & Lock Co. safe, as the Schleiers themselves once did. A new courtyard frames the modern skyline while connecting guests to the past through interior design that blends Western nostalgia with curated antiques, celebrating Colorado’s identity.
2025 REMIX AWARD
Presented to projects that have creatively combined the old and new, this award honors preservation, rehabilitation, or restoration projects that involve an older structure with new additions or alterations that contribute to the building’s story or the community’s appreciation of the structure.
Ochiltree Block/The Griffin
The Ochiltree Block sits at the gateway to Highland Park, one of Denver’s earliest planned communities. When the Victorian-style building with unique curves was constructed in 1891–1892, it was the district’s only three-story structure. Its location, mere blocks from downtown, is surrounded by dining, entertainment, and shopping options, making it one of the most desirable areas for young professionals. JAB Real Estate and Bryant Flink Architecture and Design conceived a plan to modernize the existing structure into 19 apartments with 1,000 square feet of retail, while also constructing a modern three-story, 19-unit addition, dubbed The Griffin. The resulting product is a three-story, 38-unit apartment building designed to bridge past to present—an exemplary combination of historic preservation and new construction that honors the legacy of the Ochiltree Block while contributing to the vitality of the Highland neighborhood.
2025 INFILL AWARD
Presented to newly built commercial or residential projects situated within historic districts. These developments stand out for their sensitivity to scale and street-wall aesthetics while showcasing ingenuity in their composition and blending modern design elements within a historic context.
Curtis 33
The Curtis 33 mixed-use development is a prime example of modern infill that carefully balances surrounding historic charm. Located at the edge of the Curtis Park neighborhood, alongside Curtis Park Historic District “G”, the three new structures of Curtis 33 amount to 20 row homes, a two-story commercial block, and two additional one-story commercial units. This construction uses the constraints of its triangular plot, which is outlined by Curtis, Downing, and 33rd Streets, to maximize urban density. Developer KinnerBuilt Homes and architect Paul Vernon gathered both community input and neighborhood support when creating this new property on a previously empty lot, resulting in a finished product that features human-scale massing and inviting street-level entries.
Tickets
Historic Denver’s annual gala will be held on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, at The Brown Palace Hotel at 321 17th Street in downtown Denver. This event is Historic Denver’s largest fundraiser of the year and one of a few events granted the rare privilege of taking over the grand Atrium Lobby during the two-hour cocktail reception. For tickets and sponsorship information, visit 55th Gala | Historic Denver
