TRINIDAD, Colo., Jan. 17, 2023 – As previously announced in a September 28, 2022 press release, Downtown Trinidad Development Group plans to preserve the landmark Schneider Brewery building through a selective demolition and restoration project to begin January 23, 2023. Trinidad Construction Group is the general contractor for the project. Major sections of the complex deemed structurally unsound by Sun Mountain Design Group will be removed during this process, which is estimated to last 90 days. Short-term traffic disruptions are expected. Plans for the Schneider Brewery buildings’ renewal may include a mixture of retail, residential and office spaces. To read the initial press release, please click here or see attachment.
What: Selective demolition and restoration of the Schneider Brewery complex
Where: 236 North Convent Street, Trinidad, Colorado 81082
When: Demolition expected to begin January 23, 2023, and last for 90 days
Trinidad Construction Group is the general contractor for the project.
“In line with the development group’s vision for projects Sister Blandina Wellness Gardens, Food Court
at the Marketplace, Club 14 Garden Grill and Pub, and La Puerta de Colorado, the rehabilitated historic
building will create a sense of place with an identity of its own within the Corazon de Trinidad National
Historic District,” said Karl Gabrielson, general manager and partner of Trinidad Construction Group.
“At its peak, Schneider Brewery was a complex of contiguous buildings and vacant land, with the first
structure built in about 1876 and designed by Isaac Hamilton Rapp and William Morris Rapp, noted
architects who were the creators of many of Trinidad’s best historic architecture,” said Gabrielson.
“Multiple expansions and improvements were made to the property over time.”
Leadership for the brewery changed over the years, but the company consistently remained “one of the
town’s most stable and leading industries,” according to a Colorado Cultural Resource Survey on the
complex. “The Schneider Brewery building is significant for its association with industry and
manufacturing in Trinidad, housing a brewery from construction until about 1957 and employing one of
the larger payrolls in the city.” Of equal significance is the building’s architecture, “which represents the
evolution of a brewery as it developed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.”
The Philip Schneider Brewing Company, named for founder Henry Schneider’s son, closed in October
1941 and the property remained unsold until 1944. For decades, the property was bought and sold to
other brewing companies including Walters Brewing Company of Trinidad, Colorado Brewing Company
of Littleton, Rocky Mountain Brewing Company and Bohermian Brewery Corporation. By 1970, Colorado
School District 1 administrative offices occupied the northern portion of the complex, while the
remainder area enclosed within adjoining North Commercial Street, Church Street, North Convent Street
and West Plum Street, was vacant and for sale.
Long-abandoned Henry Schneider Brewery in Trinidad, Colorado;
Photo from the Library of Congress
