Larimer Street #15, Tamayo
Tamayo, 1400 Larimer Street
The new building on the corner of 14th & Larimer is included in the Larimer Square Historic District. It was added after it was built in 1993 for the Cadillac Ranch Restaurant. The building, which replaced others on the same lot, now houses Tamayo Mexican Restaurant.
The corner is noted for its long term tenant, City Hall Pharmacy. The owners and pharmacists changed but the business stayed until 1940. In 1891 druggists Webb & Baughman were listed in the City Directory. Historic Denver sources list the beginning of City Hall Pharmacy as 1896. E. C. Healy was the proprietor at least until 1922 when he was partnered with E. J. Owens. Healy and Owens were found in the City Directory in 1937, Healy living at 1330 Williams and Owens at 964 Madison.
The original building took up the lot, the pharmacy was on the front of the lot, four smaller businesses were on the south end of the property. About 1903 there was storage in the section of the building just behind the drug store. Then there was a repair shop, a machine shop and a cobbler next to the alley.
I have used this picture before. This picture is from Denver Illustrated by Frank Reistle, 1887, page 319. In the text it lists Post Office #12 ( of 18 in the city) at 1400 Larimer. It also says the post office won’t be there for long as the new Post Office was being built. I suspect the picture is older than the book and was used as a stock picture. It is also possible that even thought the post office used the address 1400, it could have been next door, in the Hope Hotel.
Picture of 1880’s Larimer Street as drawn from the roof of City Hall. 1400 Larimer is circled.
The current building was built in 1993. It won the Masonry Institute Award in 1994 for the architectural firm of Semple Brown Roberts. Larimer Square Associates was founded in 1987. Jeff Hermanson owned Josephina’s Restaurant in 1987. By 1993 he owned four restaurants. He partnered with the late Randy Rutherford and relator Joe Vostrejs in 1993 and purchased Larimer Square Associates. Larimer Square then took up a chef driven theme. There are more than 100 tenants in Larimer Square, nearly 20 restaurants take up part of its 220,000 square feet of space. Among its star chefs is Jennifer Jasinski who owns Rioja, Euclid Hall and Bistro Vendome. Nearby is Troy Guard who owns Tag and Bubu. Richard Sandoval, with 36 restaurants world wide, and seven in Colorado, owns Tamayo. All these restaurants are rated four star plus.
I included the Hope Hotel (building to the left) in this photo because you have to go through the building to reach the second floor patio of Tamayo. Even though Tamayo is only one story with a roof top patio its sign painted on the wall above it really gives it some presence.
This rear view mirror-ish contraption is mounted to the Larimer Square sign just outside of Tamayo. It shows the City Hall war, I suspect there is some electronic way to un-blur the image. Any thoughts?
As usual any additions, comments or corrections are welcomed. Thanks, JOE S
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