Denver mourns Dana Crawford, a legend who shaped the city

Developer and preservationist Dana Crawford has died at 93, leaving a legacy of championing the stories of the past found in the buildings and spaces of Denver and Colorado. 

“Her fingerprints are all over the place,” said Walter Isenberg, CEO and co-founder of Sage Hospitality and a close associate of Crawford for decades.

“Our city and frankly our state wouldn’t be what it is without Dana.”

“You just feel the power when you’re in her presence. And you know that what she says she means. She’s courageous, she’s bold. And my God she sees something out of nothing,” said Mary Jane Loevlie, who is leading the effort to redevelop the old Argo Mine in Idaho Springs that Crawford has been working on in recent years.

“Dana was a visionary whose passion and determination helped shape Denver into the historic and dynamic city it is today. Her legacy is found in the fabric of Denver — not just in the historic buildings she saved but also in the spirit of pride she instilled in our community,” said Denver’s City Council in a release.

Dana Crawford has restored and redeveloped nearly a million square feet of property in Denver, starting in the 1960s, with her first signature project coming after she drove down Larimer Street as she looked for opportunity and realized the historic buildings, though dilapidated, had enormous value. 

“When she really first stated on Larimer Square, the notion of historic preservation wasn’t really in vogue,” said Isenberg. There were some properties being restored in St. Louis and San Francisco, soon in Boston. But urban renewal in the era commonly called for tearing down old buildings.

“She ran up against lenders and city officials and others who doubted her and they all were proved to be wrong,” said Isenberg, who later partnered with Crawford to restore the Crawford Hotel. She found herself in a world of development and finance dominated by men recalled Isenberg remembering a story she had told about seeking financial support.

“She went in to talk to these bankers and all men and the President of the bank wouldn’t even turn his chair around and look at her.”
“She was refused, turned down by all these men. So she had to have her husband be her front man,” said Mary Jane Loevlie, a friend who has been working with Crawford in recent years on the old Argo Mine project in Idaho Springs.

“She was doing the background manipulating but they were the front men saying, ‘OK Dana we can get this done for you.’” 

The Argo Mine project calls for restoring the old mine building and building a gondola to a mountain top with restaurants and views along with miles of biking and hiking trails. Crawford loved the big round table where 10 people could sit in a circle and share ideas.

“Even though she had the power in the room nobody was the head of the table,” said Loevlie.

Crawford’s list of projects includes the restoration of Union Station where the Crawford Hotel bears her name – even though she didn’t want that at first. Isenberg recalls sitting in the restored Cruise Room in the Oxford.

“We walked out of the Cruise Room and walked down the street and walked into the Great Hall of Union Station and Dana said to me, she looked up and said, ‘We’re going to turn this into a great hotel.’” She had conceived rooms up on the third floor no one else may have thought of.

“What I’ve always said about Dana is, look where Dana’s going, wait four or five years and then go there because she is so far ahead of all of us,” said Isenberg.

What she recognized was the buildings were not just physical structures.

“That story was worth preserving. And with the preservation of the real estate you preserve the story of the place,” Isenberg recalled.

In the long list of projects there is Larimer Square, the Oxford, the Acme Lofts, the Edbrooke Lofts, Cooper Flats Condominiums and the Flour Mills Lofts where she lived. She had in recent years helped with projects in Pueblo and Trinidad in addition to Idaho Springs.

“We are bringing this place back to the economic generator that it once was at the turn of the 20th century and she saw it immediately,” said Loevlie.

Loevlie, who shared a birthday with Crawford, remembered her friend for the parties.

“We had some of the most raucous parties with the widest spectrum of people that you could imagine. There wasn’t a party that Dana didn’t like.”

Loevlie visited Crawford Thursday night before her passing. Earlier this month Crawford had been filing preservation documents on behalf of property in Trinidad. She was involved until the end.

“She knew I was there and she was surrounded by her loved ones in her beloved loft,” she said.

“She’s just always going to be in my soul.”