8 JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Dating Game RYAN WARNER HAS DESIGNS ON SOME OF DENVER’S BUILDINGS. BY TEAGUE BOHLEN It’s not a commentary on the dismal dating scene in Denver — it’s Colorado Public Ra- dio’s Ryan Warner having some fun with local architecture on social media. On several platforms — Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and, yes, CPR, to name just a few — he irregularly runs posts titled “Would I Date This Denver Building?” In each one, fronted by a photo he’s taken of the building on which he’s focusing in a decidedly tongue-in-cheek manner, he answers the titular question by listing a few of its attributes. Some are based in reality, some are just absurdist humor – but all are entertaining, especially for those of us who recognize these structures. For example, his recent Instagram post on the beleaguered and beloved Rosso- nian Hotel mentions that he “made 5 points on our fi rst date” and invited Warner to a jazz show. The verdict: an all-caps YES, with Warner noting that the Rossonian is “mar- riage material, but he’s slow to trust.” Makes sense for a building that’s had nearly as many renovation plans as years it’s been sitting idle with its unparalleled history of jazz and the Black experience in Denver. But this is a series, not a one-off. Other structures he’s romantically judged in a positive light: the Elitch Carousel Dome (“Divorced his wife and wonders if he’ll ever fi nd whimsy again.”), The Supreme Camp of the American Woodmen at 2100 Downing St. (“Never a stray hair. Breath fresh. Can pull off a light suit no matter the season.”) and the University Build- ing on 16th Street (“Wears Harvard sweatshirt often. Born and raised in Denver and rolls his eyes when people criticize downtown. Analog watch.”) And to be clear, not every build- ing gets the nod. The indubitably classic Mayan Theatre on Broadway gets friend-zoned (“We occasionally cuddle, snack on Pringles, and watch selections from The Criterion Collec- tion, but that’s all I want.”), and the Warwick Hotel/former Playboy Club on Grant Street (“He was drunk when he hit on me at an Irish pub. His gold Casio was stuck on a distant hour — screen cracked. He wrote his number on a Guinness promotional coaster.”) gets an “I don’t think I’ll call.” It’s all in fun, of course. Which is to say that no, the Senior Host of Colorado Matters isn’t qualifi ed to be on TLC’s “My Strange Addiction” for inappropriate relations with an admittedly charming brick façade. “The framing of what I’m doing in ‘Would I Date this Denver Building?’ is just anthropo- morphizing,” Warner says. “It’s a fun way to connect with buildings. These are places where our lives unfold, you know?” Which is exactly why fans have started paying attention to the series — and why they sometimes take light issue with War- ner’s verdicts. “People can react emotionally sometimes,” he says. “My post about the Esquire Theatre got a lot of people nostalgic. I think it’s very easy to ascribe these charac- teristics to edifi ces.” His decision: “No. You can’t go home again.” Anthropomorphizing large structures is nothing new; we give names and genders to all sorts of things, not just buildings, but ships and fi ghter jets and sometimes our own cars. “I remember interviewing Curt Fentress, who gave us the tented roof at DIA, and Mile High in its current incarnation, and the courthouse, and I remember him talking about build- ings being intuitive and having a fl ow that you naturally understood,” Warner recalls. “That’s always stuck with me, and there’s something organic to me about that, that a building would interact with our psychology. I live in a 1930s condo in Congress Park, and I do treat it as having something of a soul.” That sense, Warner continues, even makes itself evident in our language. “We talk about a house having good bones, right?” he asks. “And I remember reading some- where that when the weather turns nice, people ‘burp’ their homes. I love the idea of a house being a baby that you have to care for. Because let’s face it, you do.” While Warner himself doesn’t have a background in architecture, he says he’s been lucky enough to interview local designers as he covers how Denver is changing and evolv- ing. Occasionally, that includes featuring a building that’s met the wrecking ball — or as Warner puts it, “is no longer with us.” He recalls a radio segment he did on the Tabor Grand Opera House, which once sat where the Federal Reserve is on 16th Street. “It was framed as, ‘Wow, it’s possible to miss a place you’ve never been,’” Warner mourns. “It was a breathtaking building. But it was allowed to become something of a fl ophouse tenement, and then in the name of urban renewal, it was razed in favor of this brutalist thing. How do I miss a building I never walked into? I don’t know, but I’m still romantic and wistful about it.” Still, architecture is an art form that can seem somewhat arcane; it can distance itself from appreciation, unlike, say, a painting on a wall or a song being played by an orchestra. “It can be intimidating because it has its own vocabulary,” Warner says. “It’s something you go to school for in order to understand. So maybe people don’t feel the permission they should to talk about how a building makes them feel, because they fear making a mistake, or they don’t wear glasses like Daniel Libeskind.” He laughs. “I don’t think it was my intent going in, but maybe an effect of my series is that it gives people permis- sion to talk about buildings in a way that doesn’t require them to use the word ‘mansard.’” (For the record, a mansard roof is one characterized by four sides with matching opposing slopes; it’s a “Second Empire” style from the latter 1800s that allowed for greater use of an attic level, and resurged in design in the 1970s.) Warner says that he chooses the buildings with at least some intention. “I’m an avid cyclist, so I’m constantly perambulating,” he says. “Part of it is just what I happen across. But I try to do a mix of neighborhoods and eras of construction, too. I love fi nding new pockets of Denver to explore. I am mindful of featuring freestanding homes. I just don’t want to make people feel invaded or vulner- able. I’d rather focus on buildings that belong more to the commonwealth. “Though I will say, I cannot wait to unload on the Beauvallon,” he adds. “Same with that building in RiNo that looks like an ant farm. I took a photo of that from the back, which is totally unremarkable. So what I’m doing is a way to celebrate, but it’s also a way to needle a little bit.” While that may well be, the heart of the project — and of Warner himself — is clearly in the right place. “Would I Date This Denver Building?” is, at its core, a project of appre- ciation, and appreciation is the necessary fi rst step toward preservation. In order to care about something remaining, you have to fi rst care that it exists. “There’s a climate scientist by the name of Katherine Hayhoe,” notes Warner, “and she says that if you’re go- ing to change people’s minds about climate change, you’re never going to do it through their heads. You have to do it through their hearts, by getting them to think about the things they value. I think that’s true for pres- ervation, too. You have to get people to think about these places through their memories, through that heart space.” Still, Warner says the series is really just meant to be fun, even if it turns out to have some positive social impact. “I’m an architec- ture buff for sure,” Warner says, “but I’m also inherently a fan of Denver, having made a life here for 20 years. People tend to knock Den- ver — particularly its skyline, and there’s this cowtown reputation. But we have some great buildings worthy of mention. You just have to slow down. And in a car-centric city like we have, that’s hard for people to do. If you’re just whizzing by, there’s a lot that you miss.” Email the author at [email protected]. CULTURE KEEP UP ON DENVER ARTS AND CULTURE AT WESTWORD.COM/ARTS Ryan Warner in front of the (coral-fox?) El Jebel building on Sherman. Date-ability TBA. Warner’s May 22 post about the classic Rossonian Hotel in Five Points. RYAN WARNER
