Work could begin early next year on the renovation and upgrading of one of the most prominent buildings in downtown Grand Junction: the nearly 120-year-old Union Station, located at 119 Pitkin Avenue.
Two real estate developers purchased the structure, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, for around $350,000 in 2016, with plans to restore the building, while also creating new restaurant and retail space inside it.
The structure is now known as the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Depot, after a new Union Station was opened in 1992.
Designed in an Italian-Renaissance style, the building is composed of white brick with terracotta used for ornamentation purposes.
The new owners, Dustin Anzures and his wife Veronica Sanchez, have applied for a Colorado State Historic Planning Grant, via the Grand Junction Downtown Development Authority, to fund the planning of the building’s restoration.
If the state comes through with support, Anzures recently remarked to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the proceeds will be used to “get the architect and the engineering team to start really building out a thoughtful plan about how to really remedy a lot of these issues that the building has.”
Among the issues: installing a fire suppression system, placing new underlay underneath the existing roof, and reconnecting the building’s sewer line.
If all goes well, it is thought that at least a segment of the historic station may be open to the public by the fall of 2024.
Designed by Chicago architect Henry J. Schlack and built at a cost of $60,000, the building features a red tile roof and second floor arched stained-glass windows. The original waiting room was around 66 feet in length and 33 feet in width, with solid oak woodwork walls.
At the time of its unveiling in the spring of 1906, the Sentinel noted that the station featured a ticket office with windows of steel lattice and counters of solid marble.
The women’s restroom is “furnished in the most modern style,” while a gentleman’s smoking room “is similar in arrangement to the ladies’ room, but not as well lighted or as richly furnished.”
By Garry Boulard
