A beloved institution of the Boulder County community is coming to an end, as Niwot restaurant 1914 House prepares to close its doors for good this summer.
The restaurant in the heart of Niwot’s business district serves contemporary American cuisine in an elegant setting. The downstairs dining area features plenty of tables and booths under warm lighting, and a spacious outdoor patio provides even more seating when the weather is nice.
The business is closing, however, due to financial constraints, as owner Nick Mastronardi explained on Wednesday.
“Restaurants are tough in the best of times,” Mastronardi said. “Margins are tight, and tiny. You can be an incredibly busy restaurant and not make money.”
And 1914 House is busy – getting even busier, Mastronardi said, after he announced the closure to the public last week. Mastronardi hopes to keep 1914 House open through the end of July, but that time frame isn’t set in stone. He said the restaurant should be able to stay open at least through the end of June.
Now that the restaurant’s regulars know time is limited, Mastronardi said there have been multiple nights of full tables and having to turn away guests. But Mastronardi loves the business and said expenses are the only reason he’s closing up shop.
He even has a name for the feeling the restaurant gives customers: the “1914 House positive vibe.”
“It has truly been a lot of fun,” Mastronardi said. “It’s not at all something I regret. It was a wonderful eight years. Everyone is sad, but at the same time, really thankful for the experiences that they had here and the environment we created.”
It took a while for 1914 House to become the sophisticated space it is today. Mastronardi bought the building in the fall of 2014, and it opened in early 2016 after an extensive renovation of the interior that included new floors and plumbing.
As the name suggests, the building’s history itself stretches back to its initial construction in 1914. The most recent business to occupy the space before Mastronardi’s was a breakfast and lunch restaurant called Rev Taylor’s, which closed in 2000.
For 1914 House, Mastronardi wanted to give Niwot a taste of the upscale dining he was used to in New York – his home before moving to Colorado with his family 30 years ago.
“We thought it would be fun to one day open a restaurant,” he said. “This building sat vacant for so many years, and living here in Niwot, I would pass it all the time. And it just called to me.”
During the rebuilding process, Mastronardi said intrigue grew among Niwot residents as to what the restaurant would look like. That community support for the business has stayed consistent over Mastronardi’s eight years at the helm. When the restaurant first opened, he said the customers were almost exclusively from Niwot – the same people who had spent nearly two years watching 1914 House come to be.
“It was a community-gathering spot right from the get-go,” Mastronardi said. “When guests would arrive, it would take 10 minutes to seat them at a table in the back, because they had to stop and say hello to so many friends and neighbors along the way.”
Eric Bergeson, president of the Niwot Business Association, said independent restaurants in Colorado are facing several challenges at the moment. He mentioned the increased minimum wage in unincorporated Boulder County, as well as the rising costs of rent, utilities and insurance.
“You stack all of those things up, and expenses have gone up a lot,” Bergeson said.
In 2017, Niwot lost Colterra – another fine dining restaurant – in a fire. Bergeson said the developer of the building that formerly housed Colterra is planning to incorporate a restaurant into the property, which would give the town a new option for grabbing a bite to eat.
Bergeson also owns The Wheel House, a tavern next door to 1914 House. He said 1914 House became a destination restaurant for Niwot, largely thanks to Mastronardi’s efforts to transform the old building into a fine dining establishment.
“The restaurant was so classy,” Bergeson said of 1914 House. “Everybody loved it. It really drew people into town.”
Mastronardi said he’d like to pass the baton to someone who wants to turn the building into another Niwot eatery. If a new restaurant does move into the space, he said adopting longer hours or staying open more days of the week might be a recipe for success.
“There is no doubt, based upon the reaction I’ve received from guests since the announcement, this town wants a restaurant here,” Mastronardi said. “In the same way that I’m closing this door and another one will open for me and my entire staff, this door is now available to someone who wants to keep it going.”
As far as his own next steps, Mastronardi said he’s excited to spend more time with his wife and six grandchildren once his restaurant closes. He’s looking forward to picking up hobbies like gardening, biking, snowboarding and hockey, as well.
He also said the memories made in his restaurant, from birthday parties to anniversary dinners, will always stay with him.
“I am so thankful I opened my restaurant in Niwot,” Mastronardi said. Pointing to a window overlooking Second Avenue from the building, he added: “Because that’s the window I get to look out every day or evening, and I’m not sure where I would rather be than right here.”
