THE HISTORIC MCNICHOLS BUILDING OPENS IN CIVIC CENTER PARK, 10/24

Original Carnegie Library is Now  Cultural and Event Space

Mayor Michal B. Hancock, Arts & Venues Denver, City officials and neighbors officially opened the historic McNichols Building in Civic Center Park today with a ribbon cutting ceremony and building tour.

The three story, 23,012 sq. ft. building, on the corner of Colfax and Bannock Street, is now open for private events and cultural activities such as gallery shows, speaking engagements, performing arts and more. Currently, each floor has been curated with art exhibits from local artists and will be available for free public viewing at various upcoming events and during normal operating hours, Thursday – Sundays, 10am- 5pm.

“This stunning building was created over one hundred years ago when Andrew Carnegie invested in Denver to cultivate reading and learning in its citizens,” said Mayor Michael B. Hancock. “We continue that tradition of learning and exploring today within the revitalized McNichols Building as we promote and embrace arts and culture in our city.”

In the late 1800s, Mayor Robert W. Speer embraced the City Beautiful movement and acted to turn Denver into an urban sprawl of parks, civic centers and streets that would eventually make up Denver’s Civic Center Park. The stunning Greek Revival style building, originally opened as the Carnegie Library in 1910, was a cornerstone of that vision.

The library eventually outgrew the space and the building then became home to the Denver Water Board in 1955, and later the Denver Treasury. In 1999 it was renamed the McNichols Building after Colorado’s 35th Governor, Stephen McNichols.The building then sat vacant for many years, to be revived in July 2010 for the inaugural Biennial of the Americas with public-private funding for basic phase one renovations.

In 2011, Arts & Venues Denver invested $1 million toward the second phase of construction and renovations include abatement, life safety upgrades, exterior cleaning, catering kitchen, restrooms, and windows. Other major investors are Boettcher Foundation, Colorado Historical Society, Bonfils Stanton Foundation and the Gates Foundation. The second floor houses the Boettcher Cultural Pavilion, dedicated to bringing cultural opportunities to the people of Denver.