According to Denver assessor records, 1550 Downing Street was built in 1888. While no building permit could be located, the address first appears in the 1889 Denver city directory associated with Joshua H. Green, a partner in the real estate firm of Short & Green. The home served as a rooming house for much of its history until it was purchased by Philip J. Steele, the founder of the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, in the early 1960s. Steele founded the Rocky Mountain School of Art at 1550 Downing Street in 1963. A 1964 article in the Denver Post highlighted a two-story addition to the building featuring 16-foot-tall windows with north light, much desired by artists. The addition was designed by Chicago architect Edward R. Humrich. Humrich was a Prairie School architect, influenced by the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright.
