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The Annex Building

The Annex Building has a long and distinguished history of fancy department stores, restaurants, grand dances, theatre performances and live music. The Building was the third commercial building in Cañon City built by mining magnate Lyman Robison, a man of means and judgment who invested in the future of Cañon City.

The 1903 Annex Building is a late 19/20th Century Revival/ Classical Revival style designed by architect Charles C. Rittenhouse with construction by Fred Kober. It features crenellated stone masonry along the top of the façade; ornate cornice with metal arched and triangular pediments, block modillions and a tympanum pediment with the name “The Annex.” The second story is divided into three bays, framed by polished gray granite engaged columns atop paneled pedestals with fan-shaped stone bases and metal pendants. The center bay has triple round arched windows with tooled stone arched lintels and stone molding with foliate ornaments. It is of brick and light-gray stone, with the stone from the Kerr Stone Quarry at Howard. The six columns are dark gray granite from Quincy, Massachusetts.  The first business to open in 1903 was The Bethel Co., a clothing store. In 1916 The Golden Rule Store (a J.C. Penney affiliate) replaced the clothing store. Western Auto Supply operated here in the 1940s, then Gambles sold hardware, appliances and furniture for thirty years until 1978.

The Annex Hall on the second floor featured hanging lights from the luxurious Olin Hotel in Denver and the handsome back bar from the historic Chesterfield Club in the Stringtown area of Rockvale, one of Fremont County’s coal camps. The Annex Hall has long been a popular area dance hall. In 2000 attempts were made to restore The Annex Hall back to its former grandeur.  Bricked over windows were opened and painted over skylights cleaned.