The ornate stone house at 1405 King Street was built around 1895 by Eli Ackroyd, president of the Colorado Steam Cut Stone Works. Ackroyd was born in England in 1851 and was in Denver by 1874 when he appears in local newspapers advertising himself as a “practical stone cutter.” He married Janet Peddie, a native of Scotland, in Denver in 1879, and the couple had seven children. An 1881 article in the Rocky Mountain News noted that Eli was the stone contractor for the Tabor Opera House in downtown Denver. The National Register of Historic Places nomination for Christ Methodist Episcopal Church at 2201 Ogden Street in Denver lists Ackroyd as the builder.
Eli Ackroyd passed away in 1901 at the age of 50 at 1405 King Street, and Janet passed away in 1903. In June 1905, the Ackroyd children sold the King Street home to Michael Egan, owner of a clothing store at 1243 Larimer Street. Egan established his business in 1883 and advertised his wares as “hats, shoes, gloves, and shirts.” The 1910 Federal census shows Egan living in the King Street home with his wife, Katherine, and three children, Mary, Michael Jr., and Alice. Michael Jr. worked as a bookkeeper for his father’s store. Michael Egan passed away in 1931, and the remaining Egans continued to live in the home.
In 1940, Katherine Egan sold the home to Max A. Leibovitz who then transferred the property that same day to Abraham (sometimes written as Abreham) Barash. Abraham Barash was born in Poland in 1890 and married there to his wife, Ida. The couple had two children, Max and Solomon, before immigrating to the United States in 1913. They added three more children, Esther, Echiel, and Jacob, in Denver. Abraham Barash is listed in city directories in the mid-1930s and early-1940s as working as a mashgiach and food supervisor at National Jewish Health. A mashgiach is someone that certifies food is being prepared according to Jewish law. By 1948, he was listed in city directories as rabbi of Congregation Zera Abraham, located at 1545 Julian Street in the West Colfax neighborhood. Ida Barash died in 1941, and it appears that Abraham was soon remarried to his second wife, Anna. Abraham and Anna Barash continued to live at 1405 King Street until 1958.
