City records show that a Guy Santorno purchased vacant lots 1&2 in 1923. He had constructed at least the bungalow at 1178 Mariposa by 1928. No permits exist for 1120-1122 W 12th but this building was extant by 1936.
Santorno died soon after construction but his widow Caroline lived at 1178 until 1932. 1120-22 W. 12th are listed as vacant until 1931 when Caroline sold the property to the D’Ursi family. Various generations of D’Ursi’s (who appear to have Americanized their surname to Dursey in the mid-1930s), lived at 1178 until the late 1940s. Throughout their ownership the family variously either ran their own businesses out of the property or leased it out. City directories list many grocers operating out of 1122 over the years. Clyde and Hazel Nelson, for example, ran the grocery in the early 1940s. Industrious Clyde also moonlighted as a bartender at the downtown Cosmopolitan.
By 1954 the entire complex is listed as the Auraria Community Center. The cinder block link joining the bungalow and shops was constructed at about this time. Possibly the exterior basement entrance at 1178 was added then. In 2010 remnants of a commercial kitchen, serving counter and meeting room could still be found downstairs.
By 1972 the complex had become the Denver Health Station. In the late 1990s the complex came under the ownership of the Mendoza family, who operated it as a social hall. Local lore has it that the hall served double duty as a bootleg liquor store. During the Mendoza’s ownership a 550 square foot residential addition south of 1122 was constructed.
The Mendozas lost the property to foreclosure in 2010.
