TIVOLI-DENVER HOLDS UNUSUAL HISTORY BY APRIL DIERKING

TIVOLI-DENVER HOLDS UNUSUAL HISTORY BY APRIL DIERKING - First published in The Metropolitan on February 7, 1992

On the National Register of Historic Places since 1973, the Tivoli-Denver has had a most unusual history.

A listing in the Register ensures that the building and its major brewing machinery are protected and cannot be destroyed. This means that as it is converted into the student union, the building's unique character cannot be altered.

Moritz Sigi, a German-born immigrant, opened his "Colorado Brewery" at 10th and Larimer Streets in 1864. Six years later, Sigi's Hall was added to the site.

While riding through the streets of Denver, Sigi died when his coach overturned.

After Sigi's death, Max Melscheimer purchased the brewery and renamed it the "Milwaukee Brewery." Melscheimer's most significant contribution to the site was the Turnhalle Opera House. Completed in 1882, it was used for musicals, plays, lectures and other cultural events.

A gymnastics team, the Turnvereins, also performed at the opera house.

The giant copper kettles just north of the Turnhalle were added in 1890. The tops of these kettles can be seen from the fourth floor windows.

The days of the "Milwaukee Brewery" ended with Melscheimer's death in 1900, and that event began what we now call the Tivoli.

Shortly before Melscheimer died, businessman John Good foreclosed on the property. He renamed the site "Tivoli" after a famous amusement park in Copenhagen. He was fascinated by the name, which when read backwards states, "I lov it."

In 1901, Good's Tivoli Brewery merged with the Union Brewery to become "Tivoli-Union Brewery."

During prohibition, the brewery survived by making a cereal beverage called Dash which contained only a small amount of alcohol.

In 1969 the brewery closed due to a combination of competition from Coors and a labor strike three years earlier that lasted six weeks and cost the brewery $750,000.

During the early 1970s the property became part of an urban renewal project which created the Auraria Campus. In 1985, Trizec Corporation Ltd. leased the building and converted it into a shopping and entertainment facility. They added a brick walkway, spiral staircase, courtyards and an atrium to blend the brewery into a retail complex.

Students on the Auraria campus purchased that lease in 1991 so that the facility could become a student union.

While there are not many books written about the Tivoli, interested visitors can use a walking tour map, which is available from the second-floor information booth.