When it opened in 1889, Hyde Park Elementary School had the august bearing of a university hall. Its lofty turrets, arching domes, and wide-open central atrium seemed to come straight out of an Old World academy—as if the building itself could impress ancient wisdom onto the eager young minds in its midst.

Those flourishes reflect the touch of architect Robert Roeschlaub, who (perhaps not surprisingly) designed the University of Denver’s Old Main, along with many other notable Colorado buildings. Hyde Park took its name from the surrounding neighborhood, an elite area populated by the privileged and well-to-do. Renamed Wyatt Elementary (after a former principal) in 1932, the school remained a community cornerstone for many years. But the post–World War II rush to the suburbs brought hard times to the inner city—and Wyatt suffered accordingly. By the 1970s it seemed as out of date as a turn-of-the-century textbook. Enrollments steadily dwindled, and in 1982 the facility finally closed its doors.

It stood in recess for more than a decade, abused by graffiti artists and flocks of pigeons—an emblem of ugliness and urban blight. In 1995, however, local residents launched a neighborhood revitalization campaign—and Hyde Park/Wyatt Elementary School loomed large in their plans. The building underwent a thorough course in the three Rs—restoration, reconstruction, and rehabilitation—and in 1998 it reopened as Wyatt-Edison Charter School, with 660 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

The building now has new wisdom to share, teachings that resonate with a community no longer so privileged or well off: that poverty and neglect can be overcome; that surface appearance means less than underlying character; that down-and-out buildings—like down-and-out neighborhoods—are well worth investing in.