Commercial buildings are all around us. Simply walk or drive down Main Avenue and you’ll encounter a variety of businesses ranging from law firms and restaurants to tattoo parlors and pet shops.
However, not all commercial buildings are as obvious. With just a quick glance, someone could easily mistake a commercial or mixed-use building in some of Durango’s neighborhoods for a colorful or historic home.
For example, April’s Garden, a floral shop at 2057 Main Ave, could confuse folks into thinking they’ve entered a home in the biblical land of Eden, until they realize it’s not technically a house. It’s a business. At a glance, you can see large glass windows that look into what appears to be a lush sunroom.
The floral shop is owned by Amy and Dave Long, who leases the building from a landlord. The couple also lives above the shop.
Amy Long recently went to the Animas Museum on West Second Avenue to do research on the building and found that it was built in the 1900s by a judge for his family, she said. It was occupied by two different families after it was built and before it became a commercial building sometime after World War II, Long said. The building then was a doctor’s office before becoming April’s Garden.
If you look closely, you can probably find doors to other rooms that have since been blocked off with colorful merchandise.
When the Longs first moved to town, they drove by the building and thought the house would make a perfect flower shop, she said.
The beautiful Victorian cottage fits the floral and gift boutique business, Long said, and gives the shop more character than if it was in a strip mall.
Hood Mortuary is another converted home. It was built to be a family’s luxury East Third Avenue home.
The mortuary’s home housed a well-to-do, very much alive family.
The facility was built in the 1880s for the Amy family of Durango and was completed in 1888.
Today, the business is owned by Kristal and Ryan Phelps, who live upstairs.
Kristal Phelps said the home became a mixed-use building, commercial and residential, in 1932 when Hood Mortuary moved into the building.
Hood Mortuary is the only funeral service available in Durango. It was established in 1902.
“The building is still a home. It’s always been lived in,” she said.
Though the building now arranges and hosts funerals and memorials, Phelps is not at all spooked by her residence, she said.
The mortuary has always been a family owned business, she said, although different families have run the business and lived in the home.
The Phelps moved in in 2003.
“I get the chance to live in one of the most beautiful homes in Durango with walking distance to downtown,” Phelps said.
Though not all business owners live above their shops, it’s quite common in Durango.
Many downtown businesses have flats or apartments above them.
Other commercial-use buildings that used to be residential properties have simply lost their homey luster.
ReRuns, a pre-owned clothing boutique and home furnishing store, is on East Sixth Avenue, also a residential area. The quaint store blends in perfectly with the colorful, modest homes in the south-side neighborhood.
Laura Reckard has owned the store for 20 years.
Before it was the clothing boutique, it was the business office of a nonprofit for 10 years, she said.
Prior to the offices, a south-side family called it home, she said.
vguthrie@durangoherald.com
