ROSSONIAN HOTEL

Location: Denver, CO

Denver’s Five Points neighborhood experienced a huge influx of African American residents during the 1890s. But as the Denver housing market boomed in the 1920s, the section became predominately Black, and discriminatory housing practices kept Denver’s Black residents segregated there. By 1929, about fifty-five hundred of Denver’s seven thousand Blacks lived in the area, which was home to a growing district of Black businesses along Welton Street.

Opened in 1912, The Baxter Hotel was owned by Robert Y. Baxter and catered to a white clientele. In 1929, the three-story triangular-shaped Beaux Arts–style property came under Black management and was renamed the Rossonian, after manager A. W. L. Ross, an attorney and newspaper publisher.

The Rossonian became a jazz entertainment hub in the Five Points neighborhood. Black musicians visiting Denver were not allowed to stay at downtown hotels and ended up at the Rossonian. The list of famous guests included Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. The Rossonian Lounge became such a hot spot it attracted white patrons from other parts of the city. By the 1950s, the lounge’s clientele was primarily white.

By the late 1950s, Black entertainers coming to the city had more hotel options to select from and were no longer forced to stay in Five Points. The Rossonian could no longer rely on the magnetism of Black celebrities, as they found accommodations closer to their major engagements. The lounge light eventually dimmed and lost its luster.

By the 1960s, Five Points experienced a steady decline in population and wealth, leaving area businesses in turmoil and many properties abandoned. By 1973, the building was appraised at only $70,000. The Rossonian was boarded up and abandoned.

In 1995, the Rossonian was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and Welton Street became a Denver historic cultural district in 2002. Later, the neighborhood became the Five Points Historic Cultural District.

Sources:

Foundation Staff, “Rossonian: 2650 Welton Street,” Denver Architecture Foundation, site last updated 2024, https://lnkd.in/eqECTNiS.

Encyclopedia Staff, “Rossonian Hotel,” Colorado Encyclopedia, https://lnkd.in/ePcEQzhN.

Image courtesy of Colorado State Historic Preservation Office