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Jerome Building -
800 8TH AV
 Print Listing
Historical Name -
Hested's/8th and 8th Building
Style -
Modern Movements
Built Year -
1964
State ID -
5WL4109
Description -
Large three-story, flat roof, rectangular brick building with one-story superstructure clad with vertically ribbed metal. Walls composed of dark red and brown brick. Painted brick on east wall. North and west walls are cantilevered above bands of clerestory windows above slanted window wells for basement and are supported by one-story brick piers. Upper stories have bands of single-light metal frame casement windows and walls of unadorned brick. Windows are set flush with wall on north and west and are inset on south wall. Inset metal frame glazed doors on south wall. South wall has central area with large plate glass windows with colored panel above, entrance with divided transom, and stacked brick under windows. Parking lot on south.
Historical Background -
This building was erected in 1964 on the site of an historic building known as the Opera Block/Masonic Hall/Greeley Building. During the 1960s redevelopment of downtown Greeley was advocated by GGG Inc. (Greeley Grows Greater), an organization of 43 people “determined not to let the downtown and the shopping area of the city decay and become scattered.” A leader of the group was Robert Reese, who had purchased and demolished the Camfield Hotel to make the land available for development. On this site, the GGG Inc. built a large new store for Hested’s with offices above the store. The 72,000-square-foot store cost $1.8 million. The Greeley Daily Tribune reported on 6 May 1964, “The opening of the new store culminates a major revitalization of the 8th Ave. and 8th St. intersection, which started more than two years ago. The condemnation of the old Greeley Building, located on the site of the new 8th & 8th Building, was followed by the announcement that the location had been purchased by Greeley Grows Greater Inc. (GGG), local investment corporation.”
After Hested’s agreed to open a store in the building, construction began. The architect for the new building was Leon Brin. A photograph of the building when it was complete shows that its exterior somewhat resembled Denver’s Mile High Center in its woven tapestry appearance utilizing contrasting porcelain enamel panels. The Tribune described the new facility: “The modern, new building contains a huge basement and three stories above ground. Hested's occupies the basement and main floor, plus a part of the second floor which is used for stock storage. The remainder of the building will house office suites.” The store, larger than any Hested’s in the Denver area, contained a cafeteria, the first in a Hested’s in the area. A number of enterprises had offices on the floors above, including several insurance companies, Automated Feeding of Colorado, Retail Credit Company, USDA Food & Nutrition, Gormley Bean Sales, Crawford & Co., Dr. Stander, U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Greeley Bank, and Monfort of Colorado. The Hested’s Colorado stores closed in 1976. Following a 1983-84 remodeling, the building continued to house offices.
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