Famed Denver preservationist Dana Crawford, credited for the rebirth of Denver’s Larimer Square and instrumental in the redevelopment of Union Station, died Thursday night. She was 93. 

Born in Salina, Kansas, Crawford came to Denver in 1954 and immediately fell in love with the city, telling the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame: “Colorado people are divine and Denver was beginning to feel like home.” She was inducted into the Hall in 1996, along with many other accolades and awards for her work and commitment to preserving Denver neighborhoods. 

“Crawford initiated a concept of urban renewal that was a first of its kind in the United States,” according to the Governor’s Citizenship Medal she won in 2018. “She pioneered the redevelopment of Denver’s historic Larimer Square in the mid-1960s. She has gone on to redevelop more than a million square feet of historic property in the city of Denver.”

Crawford was one of the leaders of the Union Station Alliance, with Sage Hospitality and Larimer Associates. The Alliance won the bid to redevelop Union Station in 2011.

“Our city wouldn’t be where it is today without Dana,” said Walter Isenberg, president and CEO of Sage Hospitality. 

Isenberg worked with Crawford for more than 30 years, first becoming partners to own and redevelop the Oxford Hotel in 1990. 

“As I think back to those early days, I learned so much from her. I had never been involved with historic preservation, didn’t know it and didn’t understand or recognize the value, and what that value of historic preservation meant to the customer — revenue,” he said. “The Oxford was built in 1891 and the story of the place resonated with customers.”

“She saw what others couldn’t see,” Isenberg said. “She was a visionary … She was way ahead of her time, especially for a woman at that time being in real estate and development — that in and of itself was remarkable. What a pioneer.”

The partners decided to name Union Station’s hotel The Crawford in honor of her work. 

She objected, said longtime Denver Post reporter Mike McPhee who wrote a book about Crawford’s life called “Dana Crawford: 50 Years of Saving the Soul of a City.” 

She also, at first, declined to let McPhee write the book. 

“She’s never liked anything that had been written about her,” he said. Her son later told McPhee she relented because she wanted her grandchildren to know about her life’s work. 

“In July 2014, Union Station Alliance opened the 125,000 square foot, $54 million revitalization of the Denver Union Station transit hub,” according to the Citizenship Medal. “That same year she received the Urban Land Institute’s Legacy Award for initiating Union Station’s reclamation plus decades of development which have redefined Denver. In addition to her redevelopment projects, Dana has also been a consultant to many cities and towns wishing to rejuvenate and reactivate their downtown areas.”

Isenberg fondly remembers the two were enjoying martinis in the The Cruise Room Bar at the Oxford around 1999 or 2000 when they walked over to Union Station. 

“I mean it was blighted, class C office space, with a few benches in the Great Hall and the ceiling was falling down,” he said. “She turned to me and said ‘We’re going to turn this into a hotel.’ That was some 15 years before it became a reality. That was Dana.” 

She helped create Historic Denver. 

“Historic Denver mourns the loss of Dana Crawford, a founder of our organization and a trailblazer whose transformative vision shaped the landscape of historic preservation in Denver,” according to a statement. “Dana’s unmatched determination, business acumen, and creative vision have left an enduring legacy that will continue to inspire those seeking to integrate the buildings of the past into the modern world for generations to come.”

She redeveloped more than 800,000 square feet of historic properties in Denver, including: The Oxford Hotel, Acme Lofts, Flour Mill Lofts, Edbrooke Lofts, and Cooper Flats Condominiums.

“Dana’s influence reached far beyond the city she called home,” according to Historic Denver. “She served on the board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for nine years, six of which she spent on the executive committee.”

McPhee details in the book how she saved Larimer Square. 

“When she got the idea to create Larimer Square in 1963, she had no real estate experience,” McPhee said. “She had no money and the Denver Urban Renewal Authority had designated the 1400 block of Larimer Street to be demolished. They were lining the bulldozers up.”

Larimer Street “was skid row for Denver in the 1960s,” he said. 

“Well she stopped them all on her own. She got friends to invest in her vision and she bought 18 of the buildings … and pulled it off and opened Larimer Square. It’s still open 60 years later.”

Crawford’s legacy lives on at the University of Colorado Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning with the Dana Crawford Preservation Program.

“It is a remarkable distinction for our nationally recognized historic preservation program to bear the name of Dana Crawford,” said former CU Denver Chancellor Michelle Marks in 2022. “Her legacy can be seen and felt throughout Denver, which is an inspiration to so many of us, including our students and faculty in this field.”

Denver’s Chief Projects Officer Bill Mosher first worked with Crawford at the Downtown Denver Partnership in the 1990s. 

“She was always engaged, always knew what was going on, always had an opinion and was always pushing people,” Mosher said. “What an iconic character.” 

Ironically, Mosher was eating lunch at Union Station when he heard the news Friday. 

“I went and looked at The Crawford sign and just thought ‘How cool is this’,” he said. 

Mosher and his wife, Molly, stayed close to her in the last 10 years, helping drive her around as she dabbled in preservation projects from Trinidad to Idaho Springs. 

“This is a real loss for Denver, especially downtown,” he said. 

Denver developer Charlie Woolley, founder of St. Charles Town Company, is known for crafty adaptive re-use projects with landmark buildings and an eye toward affordable housing.

“I got to know Dana when I came to Denver in 1978 and was the museum director for Four Mile Historic Park, so I was in preservation circles and got to know her work very well,” he said. “Her energy, enthusiasm and persistence were just amazing. She would just figure stuff out, and do a good job of it. She was such an amazing, engaging and charming person. She could talk anyone into doing anything.”

Crawford and husband John W. Crawford III raised four sons. The oldest, Jack, still lives in Denver.