The Roma was the oldest restaurant/bar in town, dating back to the 1860s, and up to 1983 when it was renovated, it  looked the part. The building still boasts a spectacular bar from the mining era downstairs. After the Roma closed, probably around 2005 or so, Honga Im bought it for the fourth and last location in Telluride of her Lotus Petal. She extensively remodeled the historic building, selling it to Eric Owen in 2015, who was most recently chef at The New Sheridan. The building suffered a structural failure during a dance party in 2016.  Owen moved on to partner in The National. 

Late in 2016, the “Roma” reopened as the RBG. In 2018, the upstairs was converted into a shared workspace, Telluride Works, operated by the Telluride Venture Accelerator and the Wood Ear Whiskey Lounge and Noodle Bar opened in the basement.

All this makes 135 E. Colorado almost certainly the oldest (more or less) continuously operating restaurant building in Telluride, most of that time by the name Roma.  It’s also almost certainly true that there were many incarnations of Roma, all with that spectacular bar, still in use, in the basement.

To capture the full and complete history of the building, and the restaurants that occupied it, would require quite a feat of historical research.