Who would have guessed downtown development stirs up such passion? It appears that someone read the Westword story “Evan Almighty” and became so worked up about the Fontius Building, the long-lasting downtown blight at the corner of Welton Street and the 16th Street Mall, that they decided to plow their car into it over the weekend. Take a look at the results:
Or maybe the driver was trying to peek inside the mysterious building before it's too late. The structure has remained largely unoccupied and neglected since the late 1980s, meaning its interior is a veritable time capsule of that era – one that is about to be wiped out, since developer Evan Makovsky is quickly moving forward with his celebrated plans to renovate the structure. The driver could have saved her automobile from a nick or two by checking out Ken Schroeppel’s retro-ific photo tour of the Fontius’ funky interior recently posted on his website www.denverinfill.com. Here’s a few samples:
Fontius Shoes’ long-untouched 16th Street storefront, featuring a décor of puke green, yellow and brown—the official colors of 1988. Remnants of a dance studio on the second floor, where many a unitard was worn with pride. The grossest thing of all time, courtesy of the long-shuttered Dupler’s Furs.—Joel Warner
