Got Preservation?
Baron Walter von Richthofen didn’t coin the “Got milk?” advertising slogan, but he came awfully close. On September 15, 1888, the German-born promoter foreshadowed the popular white mustache campaign by touting “the Swiss milk cure” at his new restaurant, hotel, and sanitarium in the east Denver suburb of Montclair. The Molkery, or “milk house,” offered fresh, unpasteurized bovine beverages to the region’s many tuberculosis patients. And if warm drinks didn’t do the trick, guests could sit on sun porches constructed directly above the stables and inhale the supposedly therapeutic fumes wafting upward through specially designed floor grates. Not surprisingly, the baron’s business plan failed udderly.
The Molkery or milk house in Montclair
The Molkery’s recent preservation, on the other hand, has been an unqualified success. A few years ago, the City of Denver applied for a State Historical Fund grant to restore the aging property. The building and surrounding grounds have been under municipal care since 1908, when local citizens pushed the city to buy the former sanitarium and turn it into a civic building. Immediately after the purchase, the city opened up the structure’s interior to accommodate neighborhood meetings, school groups, and church gatherings. Craftspeople extended the once-odorous verandas, adding neoclassical columns set on brick pilasters. Most of the original character-defining features, including rhyolite stone bearing walls, cupola, and top-floor stickwork trim were left intact. These modifications served the community well until the 1990s, when deferred maintenance contributed to the building’s gradual decline into eyesore status.
Rather than putting the building permanently out to pasture, citizens passed a neighborhood bond proposal that allowed the city to return the Molkery to its historic place as a community center. A substantial portion of the money raised through the bond went toward a cash match for a State Historical Fund project. After receiving a $177,000 grant, the city reconstructed the missing cupola and three chimneys, replaced fire-damaged roof framing, rebuilt the veranda’s grand staircase, and stabilized and re-pointed exterior brick walls and stonework.
Last fall, the city of Denver’s Parks and Recreation department received two prestigious awards for their work on the Molkery, including the Stephen H. Hart Award from the Colorado Historical Society and the Community Preservation Award from Historic Denver, Inc. Named after Colorado’s first state historic preservation officer, Stephen H. Hart Awards recognize outstanding projects and individual achievements in historic preservation throughout Colorado.
Today, the Molkery—more commonly known as the Montclair Civic Building—houses Hands on Denver, a parks and recreation department volunteer program designed specifically for citizen groups, individual, and corporate service projects. Local groups can book space for parties or meetings, and individuals are free to stroll the restored verandas. But dairy cows are strictly prohibited.