Old Elitch Gardens Carousel House

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The twelve-sided Carousel House has a bell-shaped roof divided by ridges into twelve panels, with flared eaves, arched (eyebrow) dormers with four-light windows, and central columned cupola. The walls of the structure are covered with roughly textured pebble dash stucco. Series of tapered piers between arched openings have niches with bell recesses; upper niche on each pier projects above roofline and holds metal flag pole. The stuccoed frieze between each pier is ornamented with recessed blind arches. Interior roof exhibits a metal truss and joist system, and wooden roof framing.

Elitch builders erected the carousel house about1926 to contain a new, larger carousel which had been ordered by John Mulvihill in the winter of 1925.
The original Elitch carousel is now at Burlington, Colorado and is listed as a National Historic Landmark.
The Philadelphia Toboggan Company of Lansdale, Pa. built the “new” second carousel at a cost of $52,000. The second Elitch Carousel, which began operating in 1928, was identified by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company as [carousel number] 51. The Philadelphia Company supplied rides for amusement parks throughout the country. The second Elitch carousel is a four-row carousel with sixty-seven horses and has been described as the finest carousel in the West.

After 104 years of successful operation, Elitch Gardens closed its doors forever at its famous northwest Denver location. The second carousel was moved the new Elitch Gardens site in the Central Platte valley in 1995 leaving the Carousel House vacant.

The Carousel House remains on its original site as it approaches its centenary. The Carousel House continues as the site of a range of events such as weddings, chamber music, jazz concerts, Christmas tree sales and just quiet relaxation.
In 1995 historians Tom & Laurie Simmons noted the structure’s significance, “The building is associated with the development of recreational facilities in Denver, having been an integral part of the amusement park for more than half a century. The building is significant for its unusual twelve-sided shape, bell roof, colonnaded cupola, arched dormers, and decorated piers. The building is also notable as a rare example of early twentieth century carousel building construction.”

As far as I can tell, almost unbelievably, this structure holds no Denver Landmark, State or National Register designation.