 |
History
The Tarabino brothers, six in all, came to Colorado from the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. John Tarabino eventually settled at the Engleville Coal Mining Camp and was joined by his brothers. John parlayed his success with a saloon in that coal camp into establishing a general mercantile that became the recognized store of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. John and his brother Barney moved into Trinidad, the busy city on the Santa Fe Trail and the heart of the coal, timber and agriculture region. There they became involved in numerous businesses and real estate ventures in the area.
In 1909, John and Barney joined a group of men that made up a Who's Who of Trinidad entrepreneurs, and had a small store built on the even side of the One-Hundred Block of Elm Street in what would become a row of attached single story buildings. The entire row was designed by the local architectural firm of I.H. & W.M. Rapp. John and Barney's building originally housed the Elm Street Saloon, and later, a tenant would change from purveying the 'Nectar of the Gods" to serving frozen "Cream of the Cow" as it was home to Dwight's ice Cream Factory. The building also once housed a paint store and an automotive garage.
|
A New Life For an Old Building
The lower facade of the building has undergone many changes over the years as the building's uses changed, yet it remains distinctive from the rest of the structures in the row. Mission style niches that blend into the cornice at each side of the building remain as originally designed by the architects.
Alan Petersen, himself an architect, has brought new life to the Tarabino Building. In restoration, he was careful to let many of its past lives show themselves. Layers of paint and plaster blend together on the walls much like brush strokes on a canvas. The gallery is not only a place to showcase art, but it is an inviting space that encourages one to stay and visit a while.
|
 |
