Five Points building designed for families renamed for Dr. Justina Ford

The Black American West Museum & Heritage Center, City Councilman Darrell Watson and the artist Detour join Urban Land Conservancy to rename a Five Points apartment building for Dr. Justina Ford

On June 25, Urban Land Conservancy and community members gathered in Five Points to give a family-friendly apartment building a new name. The former Brunetti Lofts at 1316 26th St. is now Justina at Five Points, renamed in honor of Dr. Justina Ford, the first licensed African American woman physician in Colorado. The renaming included the unveiling of a mural of Dr. Ford by Detour.

The board of directors of the Black American West Museum & Heritage Center, located in Dr. Ford’s former home and keeper of Dr. Ford’s legacy, joined ULC for the renaming.

“Dr. Ford’s story is one of perseverance, compassion and unwavering dedication to the people of Five Points and beyond,” said Daphne Rice-Allen, board of directors chair at the Black American West Museum & Heritage Center.

For ULC, the name links a hard truth about Five Points today to a promise about its future. Many families who built this neighborhood are being priced out of it, and Justina at Five Points is meant to help them stay or return.

Built in 2005, the building was created as affordable housing for working families, and most of its 23 apartments are three-bedroom homes built for larger households. Homes that size, at rents families can afford, have nearly disappeared from Five Points as it has gentrified. ULC purchased the building from Volunteers of America in 2025 to keep it affordable for the long term.

“Dr. Justina Ford’s story is inseparable from the story of Denver,” said Denver City Councilman Darrell Watson, who represents District 9 and Five Points, and spoke at the renaming. “She dedicated her life to caring for families, breaking barriers and serving her community. This tribute honors her extraordinary legacy while ensuring future generations can learn about the people whose contributions helped shape this city into what it is today.”

Dr. Ford arrived in Denver in 1902 and ran straight into the walls of her time. When she went to pay for her medical license, the examiner told her she had “two strikes against” her because she was a woman and because she was Black. The hospitals refused to let her practice. So she opened her own home instead and treated anyone who came to her door. Over 50 years she delivered an estimated 7,000 babies and cared for immigrants, working families and people who could not pay. To the patients she served, she was simply “the lady doctor.”

That same spirit now lives on a wall at Justina at Five Points. Denver artist Thomas Evans, known as Detour, who has painted roughly 50 murals across the city, designed a mural of Dr. Ford that anchors the building named in her honor. He set her portrait at the center, surrounded by diverse figures who represent the many patients she delivered. Behind her are pictured faint images of her medical scale, her blood pressure cuff and the home where she cared for them all.

Dr. Ford’s story is woven into the story of Five Points itself. For most of the 1900s, this was the heart of Black Denver, a place known across the country as the Harlem of the West. By 1920, more than 90% of the city’s Black residents lived here, and jazz legends filled the clubs along Welton Street. Dr. Ford’s home stood near the center of that world, a steady place to be born, to heal and to be cared for.

That home almost did not survive. In the 1980s, Dr. Ford’s house was set to be torn down. Neighbors and preservationists fought to save it, moved it to California Street and restored it. Today, it holds the Black American West Museum & Heritage Center, the very organization now helping to carry her name forward.

The parallel is hard to miss. Dr. Ford opened her doors so families who were shut out could find care. More than a century later, ULC is keeping doors open so families who are being priced out can stay.

“This building is first and foremost a home for families, which is what made Dr. Ford’s legacy such a meaningful fit,” said Aaron Martinez, chief operating officer of ULC. “Dr. Ford dedicated her life to caring for generations of Denver families from her home right here in Five Points. As we preserve this property as affordable housing for generations to come, its name will now reflect someone whose impact on this neighborhood is still felt today.”