Welcome to the 1080 Diaries! Follow us on our journey:
Hello! Welcome to a series we are calling the 1080 Diaries. 1080 Acoma Street in Denver has been Curious Theatre’s home base for almost 30 years and it’s bittersweet to be leaving for awhile as the building undergoes renovations. You might also notice we say Acoma as opposed to Acoma now, we have made this change in line with the city of Denver to honor the Native American pronunciation. This series is dedicated to our move, the renovation, and our love for this old church.
Let’s start with some history shall we? 1080 Acoma Street was built in 1895, which means this beautiful building is 131 years old this year. The church was built just 3 years after the Brown Palace construction had completed when Denver’s population was only about 106,000 residents, which Frank Thayer, a local photographer at the time, claimed was already, “too large.” Denver’s population is currently approximately 730,000 residents with the metro area reaching about 3.4 million.
1080 Acoma began its life as the Swedish Evangelical Free Church and it is believed that future First Lady Mamie Eisenhower attended church here, which is why we call the back gathering space Mamie’s. Mamie’s family lived about 2 miles away and Mamie even attended Corona Elementary, which is now Dora Moore Elementary, a school we still partner with today.
In the 1960s it became home to The Upper Room United Pentecostal Church.
In the 90s the church became a performing arts venue: The Acoma Center. We began producing in 1997 and we bought the building in 2008. The building we see today isn’t what we started with; we have upgraded and renovated a few times.
Curious has 29 years of history and memories in this building and we are excited that part of the sale of 1080 Acoma includes a leaseback and keeps us as the operational team running the space. While we will miss our home for a little while, the space we are coming back to in late 2027 will be up to date and will be a beautiful cultural hub for Denver.