Denver gives “potentially historic” eatery 3-week reprieve

Denver’s Landmark Preservation office on Friday declared Tom’s Diner potentially historic, a decision that buys community members who are interested in preserving the 52-year-old restaurant more time to save it.

Denver residents have until June 7 to apply for landmark designation on behalf of the building. If the city doesn’t receive any applications by then, the restaurant will receive nonhistoric status, allowing it to be razed within the next five years.

Earlier this month, Alberta Development Partners, based in Greenwood Village, applied for nonhistoric status along with their proposal to redevelop the Googiestyle diner, for sale at 601 E. Colfax. Tom’s is one of three original White Spot restaurants — a chain that spread across Denver in the mid-20th Century — remaining. The developer wants to build an eight-story apartment building in its place.

But the diner has potential for historic designation based on its location, a “prominent feature of” East Colfax; its design, by Googie architects Armet and Davis; and its early life as a White Spot restaurant under William F. Clements, according to the city.

“The building is associated with the mid-20th century commercial development of E. Colfax, a key example of the roadside architecture once common along this stretch of road, but now increasingly rare,” the Landmark Preservation office’s report stated. “(Tom’s Diner) is also one of the best examples of Googie architecture in Denver, representing a style that is rapidly disappearing.”

You can see Tom’s Googiestyle architecture in its “dynamic roof form with expose(d) trusses, highly visible location, projecting eaves, large plate glass windows, geometric forms, and combination of building materials included stone, brick, and stucco,” the report said.

Tom’s is one of three remaining White Spot diner buildings of nine that Clements built in Denver in the mid-20th century. The others are Denver Diner, which sold last year and is also on Colfax, and Los Toritos Mexican Restaurant, on East Colfax in Aurora.

Tom Messina, the owner and namesake of Tom’s Diner, is selling his property after 20 years in business, for $4.8 million.