The work preserving a well-known cavernous three-story brick building in downtown Pueblo has been hailed by the State of Colorado as an example of what historic preservation can produce at its best.
Located at 400 S Union Avenue, the former Holmes Hardware Building was built in 1915 and for decades served as both a hardware store and warehouse.
Its stock included everything from batteries to construction tools, locks, chains, roofing, and mortar mixes. In the 1920s, the store sold a contraption called the Klean Kwick Electric Washer: a copper tub with wringer, motor, and folding benches for cleaning clothes.
The 33,000-square-foot structure remained a retail space until well into the late 1970s before closing its doors and remaining vacant for some four decades, to the chagrin of city officials.
Then, in early 2020 two commercial brokers, Nathan Stern and Zach Cytryn, began the process of trying to secure funding to bring the Holmes building back to life.
The entrepreneurs decided, after purchasing the property for $2.7 million, to repurpose the lower level of the building as a food hall with a number of different restaurants, while the upper levels would given over to workforce housing.
The restoration and repurposing of the historic structure ended up costing around $16 million, with work on what has since been named the Fuel & Iron Food Hall seeing completion earlier this year.
Now Colorado’s historical preservation agency, History Colorado, which is a division of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, has publicly hailed the Holmes Hardware Building renovation, bestowing upon it its Stephen H. Hart Award for Historic Preservation. The award is named in honor of Colorado’s first State Preservation Officer.
In announcing the award, Governor Jared Polis said it was designed to “celebrate innovation across the state that preserves the Colorado we love, while creating new spaces for communities to come together, and that’s exactly what Fuel and Iron is.”
In a press release from the History Colorado group, it was noted that recipients of the Hart award are recognized for their “innovative approaches, in-depth research, and/or use of proper techniques that honor the historic significance and craftsmanship of Colorado’s archaeological and built environment.”
By Garry Boulard
