Buying an aging historic property in downtown Juneau and running the Iditarod have two big things in common: confidence and ability. South Franklin Street’s Senate Building grew from both. And Bruce Denton achieved both.
It was boldly hopeful confidence that convinced Bruce Denton and the late Larry Spencer to buy the old Senate Apartments the day before a huge capital move vote in 1982. At that time the battle between Willow and Juneau was contentious, and the outcome was uncertain. Juneau’s future hung in the balance. Fortunately, Alaska’s voters retained the capital here. Pent-up growth in housing and business burst forth when the answer came.
In the mid-1980s, the Senate Building was renovated to support an additional floor. The building had been apartments for more than 40 years, but was in very poor condition. At one time, a neighboring property owner asked the city to condemn the building as a hazard. Today, the Senate Mall has a multi-floor atrium entry, historic decor, and many local businesses and offices. (Photo courtesy Bruce Denton)
Denton and Spencer gutted the deteriorated structure and created a four-story combination retail and office building inside a shell of historic framework. They stabilized the framing, sheathed the exterior in modern materials and added a distinctive arched window that has become the Senate Mall trademark.
The duo added a classy night club on the new top floor, calling it The Penthouse. They made a welcoming street entry with an expansive atrium lobby rising three floors. Victorian-era wood trim and patterned carpet created historic elegance. Larry Spencer managed the property for many years until his death in 2013.
Today, locally-owned retail businesses operate year-round on the first two floors of the Senate Mall. They are a positive presence in a tourist community that sees more than 50 seasonal storefronts closed during non-cruise ship months. Offices on upper floors and a first-floor deli ensure foot traffic enlivens the building despite dark winter days.
Tracing the history of the South Franklin Street property can be daunting. During the 1890s the road was called Front Street because it followed the natural curve of shoreline along the waterfront. As the town grew, the name Franklin Street was extended and designated South Franklin Street in 1936. This area of industrial businesses gradually evolved to be rooming houses, retail shops and bars.
Renowned 1930s local sled dog musher Mary Joyce stands in front of her Top Hat Bar in 1955 with Bruce Campbell and Vern Cusack. A window photo depicts Joyce in her fur-rimmed parka with a sled dog. Joyce, as “Miss Juneau,” mushed 1,000 miles from her Taku Lodge home to Fairbanks to compete in the 1936 Miss Alaska pageant. (Photo courtesy Bruce Denton, photographer unknown)
In 1898 the site of today’s Senate Building was occupied by Juneau Iron Works: a manufacturer of important products for Juneau’s busy mining industry. By 1913 the Central Building was built next door with various businesses on the ground floor and rooming house facilities on the second floor. The two buildings were joined in 1944, completely remodeled, and a third floor was added.
Many early downtown buildings were constructed on pilings over the beach. A surprising number of structures are still on piers, reinforced to modern standards, but with exposed beach — and rare tidal flows — underneath. As with other mining towns, castoffs ended up in the rubble below. Bottles were a common artifact. When Bruce Denton was excavating under the Senate Building he discovered one old bottle with special meaning for him. Embossed on the amber glass of the medicinal liquor bottle was ornate patterning and the letters “BCD Co.” Ironically, that is the name of Denton’s construction company, composed of his initials. The bottle was intact, complete with the stopper sealing in some liquid remnants.
“We saved the bottle, but over time contents have evaporated when the stopper slipped into the bottle,” said Bruce, as he and his wife Sharon reminisced recently about the challenging years when they were simultaneously raising children, racing sled dogs, and working hard to restore the old building.
Juneau’s Bruce Denton at the 1980 ceremonial start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race beneath the familiar banner in Anchorage. All racers transition with their teams to Knik, north of the city, to load sleds and begin the official start of their 1,049-mile race to Nome. Denton finished 10th and 17th among teams of about 70 entrants in different years. (Photo courtesy Bruce Denton)
While Bruce worked on the building’s construction during summers, he and Sharon devoted winters to another big challenge: preparing for Bruce to run the 1,049-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race between Anchorage and Nome. In the 1980s the couple and their three young children headed north to raise and race sled dogs.
They had miles of remote sled trails at their winter home near Nenana. In Alaska’s Interior, winter days and nights are mostly dark. Sharon recalls the beauty of running a team over the snow by brilliant moonlight, even at 40 degrees below zero. Each parent took turns training the dogs, while the other tended the children and kept the woodstove going in their small cabin that had no running water or electricity. Despite lack of amenities they loved the peaceful white world.
Once the Iditarod Sled Dog Race was completed each March, the Dentons, their toddlers and 35 sled dogs returned to Juneau. Bruce concentrated on residential and commercial construction projects while Sharon ran the business operations. The dogs still needed exercise and training, however. Pulling a wheeled cart, the dog teams ran from the Dentons’ isolated Mendenhall Valley home via empty Montana Creek Road and the Mendenhall Campground.
Bruce is Juneau’s most well-known Iditarod competitor. He raced to Nome in 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983. Finishing the grueling sled dog race is a major achievement. Placing among the top finishers is even more of an accomplishment. Denton finished 10th in 1982 and 17th in 1983. There were up to 70 teams competing in the race in those years.
Heavy equipment fills the ground floor of the Senate Building in 1983-84 when Larry Spencer and Bruce Denton remodeled old apartments into modern retail and office spaces. The building lot was once several small structures, including Juneau Iron Works during the town’s early mining days. (Photo courtesy Bruce Denton)
After years in the construction business, the Dentons now solely focus on the Senate Mall. Both are strong supporters of various community efforts to sustain Juneau. For several years, they hosted the Downtown Improvement Group in the building’s conference room with facilitated weekly meetings covering various relevant topics. The annual downtown cleanup day grew from this cooperative gathering. In 2021 the Juneau Chamber of Commerce awarded Bruce Denton the group’s coveted Lifetime Achievement Award. Dentons actively engage others in making downtown Juneau more enjoyable for residents and summer visitors.
There is another dog sled mushing connection in the Senate Building’s history. One famous tenant starting in the 1940s was Mary Joyce’s Top Hat Bar. Mary Joyce is one of Juneau’s most colorful characters. She was “Miss Juneau,” a nurse, a flight attendant, a radio operator and a pilot. One feat stands out among the many accolades she earned.
Mary Joyce’s notoriety grew in 1936 when she mushed her dog team 1,000 miles from her Taku Lodge home through the Coast Mountains via Atlin, Whitehorse and the rugged Kluane route with Native guides to Fairbanks. Her goal was to reach that northern city in time to compete for the Miss Alaska title. She arrived in Fairbanks in time, but not with her team. She finished the dog race after the pageant, which she did not win.
A small artifact bottle Denton discovered while excavating beneath the Senate Building in 1984. Prophetically, it has the same letters embossed in the glass as Denton’s business name, BCD Co., which are his initials. A penny is beside it to provide scale. (Photo by Laurie Craig)
In the 1930s Mary had been a nurse for the Taku Lodge owner. When he died, she was deeded the property by his family. During the war years of the 1940s city life drew her to Juneau permanently. She bought the Top Hat Bar located in the precursor to the Senate Building and operated it for many years. She also owned the Lucky Lady on the opposite side of Franklin Street. Mary Joyce died in 1976 in her late 70s.
Within a couple of years of the Senate Building’s complete renovation in 1984, Juneau’s downtown streets underwent a major restoration as power poles carrying decades of overhead utility wires were removed and buried underground. This technical and beautification upgrade added vintage-style streetlights, improved sidewalks, colorful banners, and hanging flower baskets. Downtown’s distinctive clock was installed on the corner of Front and Franklin. Changes resulted in a cleaner, safer and more welcoming appearance for the growing tourism industry.
The city and business owners recognized historic preservation as a popular urban value. Without the devastating fires that consumed many Alaska towns, Juneau has been able to highlight its historic structures. Much of that is due to devoted building owners.
As noted in a February email to this writer by retired city architect and historian Gary Gillette: “In 1978, the City and Borough of Juneau designated several blocks of the commercial area as the Downtown Historic District and adopted Design Standards in 1984. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.” Gillette now leads the Gastineau Channel Historical Society.
On a damp May 2023 morning, Sharon and Bruce Denton stand before their Senate Building renovation project completed in 1984. Juneau’s Downtown Historic District has been rejuvenated in the ensuing years, burying unsightly utility wires, adding hanging flower baskets, installing colorful banners, and illuminating streets with antique light fixtures to enhance the historic atmosphere. In the background, a local Alaskan Brewery delivery truck echoes the message Dentons’ lives celebrate: “Live. Life. Alaskan.” (Photo by Laurie Craig)
Some historic properties attained individual listings on the National Register. Others, such as the Senate Building, are classified as “non-contributing” due to significant renovation, yet are within the Downtown Historic District. That major restoration effort, however, allows the Senate to survive the harsh elements of Southeast Alaska’s weather and carry on the image of Juneau’s lively history. Juneau was founded in 1880 as a mining camp.
Boutique shops continue to thrive in the Senate Mall today. Longtime local businesses like the Bear’s Lair, Juneau Artists Gallery, Boheme, Harbor Tea and Spice, Changing Tides, Salon Cedar, Urban Haven, and Wolfsong Wellness create a stable atmosphere along with popular Grumpy’s Deli. Cedar Group, Altman Rogers, Wilson Engineering, Lucid Reverie and other offices bring activity to the building’s upper floors.
It takes dogged determination to run the Iditarod and to sustain a complex historic building. The Senate Building represents both.
• Laurie Craig is an artist, advocate and avid researcher of Juneau’s historical treasures. Rooted in Community is a series of short articles, published in the Empire on the third weekend of each month, focusing on unique buildings in Juneau’s Downtown Historic District and the present-day businesses (and people) that occupy them. This work is supported by the Downtown Business Association. This article has been moved in front of the Empire’s paywall.
