Little Flower developer Brian Brainerd is a true urban pioneer and 22-year resident of Larimer Street. As a photographer, he was attracted to the area in 1985 after the industrial zoning was amended to permit artists to live and work in studio spaces carved from obsolete commercial buildings. It was do-it-yourself in those days and building an 800 square foot photo studio and loft was his first live+work project.

The Little Flower building came his way in 1991. He and his wife took on Little Flower as the classic urban pioneer project, gutting the century old building and recycling the structure into two live+work residences. A site plan has been crafted for the unique location that embraces a private pocket park and European-style courtyard. New construction will integrate traditional building materials in a modern form inspired by the historic loft spaces.

Brian has been involved in a wide range of development and planning projects in this area over the past 15 years. He served as president of the Upper Larimer Neighborhood Association and participated in a number of neighborhood planning efforts with the Denver Planning Department, advocating quality urban design.

He now volunteers as co-chair of the neighborhood design guidelines committee, is a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, a member of the National Association of Homebuilders and the Urban Land Institute.

Brian thoroughly understands the Denver urban environment and the unique qualities of the Larimer main street neighborhood, so he founded Larimer Main Street, LLC in 2001, to build inspiring dwellings that contribute to the unique neighborhood character and pedestrian environment.

Larimer Main Street has joined forces with the architectural firm GroundWorks Design for the Little Flower development. GroundWorks Design is a team of three talented architects -- Brian Milnick, David Morris and Anthony Mazzeo -- with a philosophy of designing living environments from the ground up. They were inspired by the opportunity to craft the Little Flower dwellings in a contemporary form with a strong relationship to the pocket park and historic urban environment. They work directly in 3-D format to create a computer model to study the building's form and relationship to the site before committing the design to 2D construction documents.

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