511 1st Avenue

511 East First Avenue in The Avenues in Salt Lake City, Utah

The Elliott Building

The Elliott Building
1430 Miner Street

Conrad Elliott was the original owner of this plot. In 1885, his son, H. A. Elliott, opened a highly successful drugstore in the building. Among the goods that Elliott’s carried were pure drugs, medicines, chemicals, wallpaper, paints, oil, perfumes, toilet articles and cigars. Mr. Elliott also bottled the famous Idaho Springs mineral water and ginger champagne to sell to his many customers.

The secret of Elliott’s success was said to be his refusal to carry anything but high-grade goods. His ornate soda fountain, known as one of the finest in the West, also attracted patrons from near and far.
This single story building is constructed of brick and masonry. The ornate stained glass was later added to the building by H. A. Elliott. Use of stained and leaded glass was very popular in the 1880’s and 1890’s, when the Queen Anne architectural style of detail and ornamentation was in full force, and again in the 1920’s when many buildings were renovated in the same style. The building possesses intricate brickwork, and ornamental metal nuts are used to attach the cast-iron front to a brick facade.

The interior of this building contains murals done by a husband and wife team of artists in the 1930’s to earn some money during the Great Depression. Numerous buildings in Idaho Springs were similarly painted but this is the only one which still contains their work.

In 1994, Leigh Anne Lobato purchased and renovated the building, dedicating it in loving memory of personal family friend, Reverend Anthony J. Bliss.

1430 Miner Street in Idaho Springs, Colorado