DENVER — Denver's buildings, historic or not, are made of brick, stucco, wood and memories.
A developer wants to tear down the Olinger Moore Howard Chapel, located at Tennyson Street and West 46th Avenue to put up townhomes.
But just the thought of losing this nearly 60-year-old building brought one man to tears. He said when he looks at that building, he sees his dad.
Mike Smith is the son of Robert T. Smith, one of the original plasterers on the chapel when it was built in 1960.
When he heard that the developer, Koelbel & Company, is proposing to tear down the chapel, he decided it was time to stand up for his father's work.
9NEWS: What made this job particularly unique for your father?
Mike Smith: Well, you know, my father was a unique person. He had a 10th-grade education and went into the plastering business.
When they started building this, in the late 1950s, he had actually retired out of the plastering union because he physically couldn't do it anymore. But he was the only one who could do the plastering job in the whole western United States. The Plasters Union petitioned for him to come back and just do this job. He gracefully said he’d come back and do it.
You feel the city shouldn't allow the chapel to be torn down?
To my knowledge, there's no one left who can recreate what's inside because it's a lost art. It’s not that the people aren’t capable of doing it, but the training and the technicality aren’t taught anymore.
He didn’t have a computer. All he had was a pencil and piece of paper to figure these things out in his own mind. That to me is a genius. And when you got a genius, you don’t tear down their efforts.
Are you against any development at Tennyson and 46th?
I am not anti-development. I'm not because I know development is going to happen no matter what. I grew up here on Tennyson Street. I used to walk down there after football practice. The stuff that was on that corner should be gone, that's an improvement.
But they do not need to tear down something that is historic. It is unlike anything. You will not go anyplace in the country and find this today. You can’t.
We don’t need everything new. We need to keep some of our history.
What if they decided to develop inside the chapel?
I have no problem with it. Just don't tear it down.
I know what effort went in here. It’s not something that somebody can come and replace.
What do you think your father would say if he were here now?
I think he’d sit down and say, 'You’re doing what I trained you to do. Okay? You’re standing up for us because these things mean something to us.'
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