The City Cast Denver team recently hosted a members-only event at the new-ish Schoolyard Beer Garden in the Golden Triangle neighborhood and it got me thinking. If you’re a Neighbor and joined us — or you’ve stopped by Schoolyard for a beer — you might have wondered about the gorgeous building. Yes, it used to be a school, but what’s the story behind this beautiful piece of Denver architecture?
A Model For Future DPS Buildings
The building at 1115 Acoma St. was built in 1904 and designed by architect David W. Dryden as the prototype for Denver’s public schools. You can see Dryden’s other work in the Renaissance Revival design of local schools like North High and the Steele Elementary School. The Evans Elementary School opened in 1905 — named after then-governor John Evans, who donated the land for the project.
The Evans School Tenure
For much of its 69-year history as an educational space, Evans School was the only one in the Denver area serving children who were deaf, blind, or living with physical disabilities. The school’s enrollment took a hit after the white flight to the suburbs in the 1960s, eventually leading to its closure in the early 1970s.
A Decades-Long Summer Break
There was a looming prospect of demolition after Evans School closed, so Denverites Richard and Alan Eber purchased the property at auction in 1974 for $620,000 in an effort to save the building, despite having no real plans for it. The Ebers renovated many parts of the old school, but it sat mostly vacant for more than 40 years until it was sold for $18 million in 2019 and immediately sold again for $11 million.
Before opening in its current form, the school was temporarily home to nearly 60 artists who utilized the freshly-remodeled building as studio space through RedLine Gallery’s Satellite Studio program. Eventually, the artists were uprooted to make way for the Schoolyard Beer Garden.
City Cast Denver Neighbors in what used to be the boiler room at Evans School. (Peyton Garcia / City Cast Denver)
The Next Semester
Schoolyard Beer Garden and Schoolyard Cafe opened in April 2025, repurposing the first floor and 5,000 square-foot outdoor patio into a casual food and beer hall. As for the rest of the vintage structure, developers have plans to add retail and offices on the second and third floors, and turn the 4,000-square-foot auditorium into an event space.
Special thanks to History Colorado, 9News, Westword, and Southwest Contemporary for resources on this topic.
