Pulliam Building reopens after major restoration

87-YEAR-OLD LOVELAND LANDMARK

Norm Rehme, left, talks in 2024 with construction superintendent Allen Fontenot, right, about the major renovation work they are doing at the Pulliam Building in downtown Loveland. Rehme lead the effort to preserve and restore the historic building. REPORTER-HERALD FILE

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By Jocelyn Rowley

Reporter-Herald

Generations of Loveland residents remember the Pulliam Community Building as the heart of civic life — a place for gatherings, classes, meetings and even dances and movies. Now, a new generation will get to make its own memories at the 87-year-old landmark.

“We had a vision of saving a very valuable building in Loveland and making it thrive into something even bigger than it ever was,” said Pulliam Community Foundation President Norm Rehme, who led a 16-year effort to bring the building back to life. “Now it’s going to be serving in multipurpose ways … which means it can be turned into whatever you need.”

The 22,000-square-foot building at 545 N. Cleveland Ave. was constructed in 1938 as part of the Works Progress Administration and with a generous donation from Loveland residents D.T. and Lillian Pulliam, whose names were added to it 50 years later.

Built with concrete slab walls several inches thick, the Pulliam’s most striking architectural feature is its lamella roof, a grid of interlocking wooden arches overlaid by a series of oak planks. Another highlight are the original maple floors in the 4,000-square-foot main ballroom, which has been named in Rehme’s honor.

And it’s not hard to see why. After the building fell into disrepair and closed in the early 2000s, Rehme took up the cause of saving the Pulliam in 2009. Through the foundation, he and his team raised $2.5 million for the restoration, and then rallied the city to contribute much of the rest.

Restoration of the Pulliam has been done in phases over several years, with the final stretch beginning in February 2024. The project focused on preserving the building’s historic charms, while modernizing interior systems such as heating and cooling.

The result is nothing less than “stunning,” said Susan Ison, the city’s longtime director of cultural arts.

“They have done an absolutely beautiful job of honoring both the history and the Art Deco design,” she said. “I think people are really going to love it.”

Yhe Pulliam’s Rehme Ballroom, Gullikson Banquet Room and FNBO Conference Suite are available for rentals. According to Ison, bookings for events and meetings are coming in steadily.

For Rehme and others who fought to save it, the Pulliam’s reopening marks not just the end of a long restoration but the start of a new chapter.

“It’s been a while in coming,” Rehme said. “But good things happen over time.”