08/31/2026
Every building we design starts with a story. Tepeyac Community Health Center’s begins decades before we ever picked up a pencil.
In the early 1990s, a small Catholic parish in North Denver was overwhelmed by neighbors asking for medical and mental health help it had no way to give. At his first parish council meeting, Jim Garcia raised his hand to take on the problem.
As the idea for a clinic took shape, it needed a name. Inspiration came from a folk art exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, a video telling the story of Tepeyac Hill outside Mexico City, tied to centuries-old stories of hope and healing for someone the world had overlooked.
That clinic, built by volunteers in a rundown bungalow, grew into one of Colorado’s most trusted safety-net clinics. Thirty years later, we had the honor of designing its new home — built to carry that same promise forward for the Elyria-Swansea community.
