Colorado to Lose 1918 School

The Columbian School is scheduled to be demolished.

Credit: Lucille Dixon

Dec. 21, 2005

Dear Preservation 911,

This is of immediate concern. The Columbian School, on the National Register of Historic Places and noted as the most valuable building in Las Animas, Colo., is in immediate danger of demolition (bids for demo are going out this week). It is listed as one of only three buildings in Tom Noel's book Buildings of United States, Buildings of Colorado, that the Architect Historian Society determined should be preserved. It is also on the 2004 Colorado Most Endangered Places List.

Built in l918, it is a Mission revival brick, the only known of this style in Colorado, with a beautiful open air-courtyard surrounded by columns of brick arches. It was given an $8 million replacement value in about 2000. It had major renovations in about 1990 with more than $1 million in improvements and updating (which is daily being stripped). It was built by Larson/Nelson a team from Sweden, famous for other magnificent buildings in the U.S. (Michigan, Cripple Creek, Ft. Lyon).

Columbian has been a victim of the school replacement saga. A victim of strategies developed in l991 to "defer maintenance," in an elaborate scheme and effort to pass a bond to build new facilities.

I believe the school board is determined to demolish it for a parking lot. Offers have been made for up to $75,000 or $100,000 for alternative use, as a community center, etc.

Would the board entertain an offer to build a new gym in exchange for saving the structure? (The board appears to be heavily influenced by contractors noted for teardowns.)

Please help if you can. Call 719-456-1296, or Hansen Realty 719-456-0406.

Sincerely,

Judy Thomeczek

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