Downtown...
Seasons Greetings from Zeckendorf Plaza
Photos © 2011 Alan Golin Gass, FAIA
A seasonal late-60s-era holiday shot of Zeckendorf Plaza, with lights displayed under the hyperbolic-paraboloid roof and out in the plaza over the ice skating rink.
A famous “lost” I. M. Pei & Associates design, the plaza was built in 1959 and sadly torn
down in 1996.
December 23rd, 2011 / No Comments » / by Alan G. Gass
Mile High Center
Photos © 2011 Alan Golin Gass, FAIA
Today we have guest photographer Alan G. Gass (esteemed architect, historian and in my view, city hero) with some 1950s-era shots of I. M. Pei & Associates’ Mile High Center.
If you look closely at this first shot of the entranceway canopy on Broadway, you can see Mr. Gass himself in the reflection of the front door, taking this photo.
Many of the features shown in the photos, of this early important work of I. M. Pei, no longer exist, as many of the spaces were absorbed into the design of One United Bank Center (now Wells Fargo Center, the “Cash Register Building”).
In this shot you can see the canopy as it crosses through the fountains to connect to the restaurant and shops of the Transportation Building. Behind the plaza you can view some of the details of the remodeled bank building, which is the third building of Mile High Center design.
Viewing east toward the fountains, past the row of lights on the bank, this photo nicely depicts the interrelationship of all three buildings with the plaza.
And lastly, a shot of the concrete barrel-shaped roof of the Transportation Building. You can also see additional details of the bank building. This is the intersection of 17th and Lincoln, compare how different this looks today.
November 22nd, 2011 / 2 Comments » / by Alan G. Gass
Broadway & 17th
Broadway and 17th in downtown Denver, showing the contrasts of styles from different eras.
The sandstone Brown Palace from 1892, the International-style Mile High Tower from 1956,
and peeking over the top, the post-modern Wells Fargo Center skyscraper from 1984.
November 21st, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Buerger Bros
The Buerger Brothers Beauty Supply building in downtown Denver, an Art Deco design
from 1929 by Montana Fallis. Fallis’ firm also designed the Art Deco Mayan Theater.
Terra cotta design from Buerger Brothers Beauty Supply.
The Historic Denver Guidebook, Denver: The Modern City (by Michael Paglia, Rodd Wheaton and Diane Wray Tomasso) suggests that Fallis’ son Myrlin Fallis might have been that actual designer of The Mayan and Buerger Bros.
In 1937 Buerger Brothers expanded into the Denver Fire Clay Building next door with a
white tile Art Deco makeover to create the Buerger Building Annex sister building.
November 16th, 2011 / 1 Comment » / by Tom Lundin
Rockmount Ranch Wear
Aside from the Sugar Building Annex below, the other example of Prarie-style in downtown Denver is the Rockmount Ranchwear Building, designed 1909 by the Fisher brothers before they changed the name of their firm to Fisher & Fisher.
Rockmount Ranch Wear, the world-famous western clothes manufacturer, took over the building in 1946. They have sold their trademark shirts with the sawtooth pockets and diamond-shaped snaps to Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Ronald Reagan, Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Toby Keith and of course, many others.
Here is a closeup of the Prairie-style decoration that is a simplified version of the work of Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.
November 11th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Sugar Building and Annex
The Sugar Building is a grand Denver example of a Sullivanesque Chicago-style commercial building. The style’s name comes from the father of modern architecture, Louis Sullivan and the commercial style that came about from the reconstruction of Chicago following the fire of 1871.
Designed 1906 by Aaron Gove and Thomas Walsh. Walsh had worked in Chicago and Gove had studied near there.
The terra cotta and brick geometrical ornaments shown above on the upper two floors are one of the most notable Sullivanesque features. Ornament was far less prominent in the styles that followed, like the Prairie style.
The Sugar Building Annex was also designed by Gove and Walsh, this time in this newer Prairie style in 1912. It is a style heavily associated with Frank Lloyd Wright and house design.
Surviving examples of Prarie style are uncommon in Denver, but the use of this style in commercial buildings is very rare.
One last shot of the Sullivanesque Sugar Building ornament.
As for Prairie style, this became the precursor to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian style.
(Though these days the Prairie-style appellation is often loosely applied to new homes. It seems like any new construction with a gable roof and deep eaves reminds the owner of Wright’s Robie House and gives them the license to invoke this important historical style. ;<)
November 8th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Republic Plaza
The Republic Plaza, designed 1983 by Donald Smith for
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The late-modern design now
stands out from decorative, contemporary styles.
Before the Republic Plaza, the Republic Building stood on
this site, designed in 1928 by G. Merideth Musick.
November 5th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
El Jebel Temple
El Jebel Temple, a Moorish Shriner palace.
Designed and built in 1907 by the Danish Baerresen Brothers,
Harold, Viggio, Albert and Willemoes.
EL JEBEL TEMPLE A.A.O.N.M.S. (Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine)
November 4th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Denver brickwork
Incredible brickwork, bordering on Art Deco, from the 1920s (I assume).
This triangular wedge-shaped building is just referred to as 2185 Broadway.
October 24th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Mile High Center model
Photos © 2011 Alan Golin Gass, FAIA
The original model for Denver’s first skyscraper, the Miesian-style
Mile High Center, completed by I. M. Pei & Associates in 1956.
In this model you can see the tapestry-like interplay of the white enamel
panels with the dark aluminum bands on the Mile High Tower. To the
left of the model is a four-story renovated bank and on the right is the
two-story, barrel-roofed Transportation Building.
September 25th, 2011 / 2 Comments » / by Alan G. Gass
Petroleum Club
The Meisian-style Petroleum Club Building designed by
Charles Strong in 1957. Charles Strong is famous locally
as the architect of the Art Deco Poet’s Row.
The historic building has seen some changes in recent history,
the sun screens and the red spear going up the side. Compare
to this 1957 Denver Post photo.
September 22nd, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Art Deco parking garage
Reflected light created these weird shadows on this Art Deco parking garage at 17th & Glenarm.
(Sorry if I haven’t been posting as frequently! I plan on rectifying that this week!)
September 19th, 2011 / 2 Comments » / by Tom Lundin
1950’s Denver skyline
Photos © 2011 Alan Golin Gass, FAIA
Two shots of the Denver skyline in the late-1950s taken from Mile High Center. The
first looks Northwest when the Denver Club Building (1954 by Raymond Harry Ervin)
still dominated the view.
The second looks North over the roof of the Brown Palace toward the triangular sign
atop the Conoco Oil Building.
August 3rd, 2011 / No Comments » / by Alan G. Gass
South Broadway from Mile High Tower
Photo © 2011 Alan Golin Gass, FAIA
Looking south down Broadway from Mile High Tower, circa late-1950s.
(Notes from editor: To the far right is the edge of the demolished Majestic Building.
Moving left you can see the back of the Philips 66 sign reversed. Below that is probably
the construction zone for the Petroleum Club building.
On the left edge you can see the Colorado State Capitol. The white building to the right
of that is the Colorado State Capitol Annex and the building to the right of that standing
tall on the horizon is the Sherman Plaza Apartments, which are still standing.)
(click to enlarge)
June 30th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Alan G. Gass
Court House Square render
Nice render of Court House Square, just a little mangled by the pagefolds of the
publication it came out in in 1959. Still no Hilton yet in this illustration. (Click to enlarge)
It is interesting to contrast the difference between this illustration and the true building in
the Alan Gass photo below. They did seem to get the hyperbolic paraboloid right, though.
This outstanding piece of engineering was the widest concrete shell in the country at 132
feet by 113 feet.
June 13th, 2011 / 1 Comment » / by Tom Lundin
Court House Square
Photo © 2011 Alan Golin Gass, FAIA
Looking at I. M. Pei & Associates’ Court House Square from Mile High Tower
(another I. M. Pei & Associates building). Photo taken 1959.
Construction fences still surround the site and the Hilton Hotel has not yet been completed.
You can see the May D & F building with it’s original aluminum panels, the hyperbolic
parabaloid and the skating rink.
The tall building to the right is the original Republic Building, designed 1927 by
G. Meredith Musick.
June 10th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Alan G. Gass
Mead & Mount Construction
Mead & Mount Construction ad from 1959.
Top left: 1959 State Services Building
G. Meridith Musick and Temple Buell, Architects
Earl C. Morris and Roland L. Linder, Architects
Top right: 1958 First National Bank
Raymond Harry Ervin, Architect
Middle: 1936 Albany Hotel
Burnham Hoyt, Architect
Temple H. Buell, Architect
(The 1936 date was when it was reclad. The hotel was first built in 1885.
Sadly, it has been demolished)
Bottom right: 1954 Denver Club Building
Raymond Harry Ervin, Architect
June 2nd, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Art Deco terracotta
Art Deco terracotta from the right side of the Paramount Theatre, designed 1930 by
Temple Buell.
November 23rd, 2010 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Hotel Monaco
Hotel Monaco, downtown’s Streamline Modern hotel designed by
Fisher & Fisher 1938 as the Railway Exchange building.
November 19th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Dire’s Lock & Key
Dire’s Lock & Key, a nice 1950s-era structure on Broadway.
I always assumed this was a coffee shop or maybe even a Rocky Bilt, but Dire’s has
been around since WWII, so maybe it is originally Dire’s?
November 18th, 2010 / 1 Comment » / by Tom Lundin
Denver brickwork
Geometric designs in brick on the side of the Ice House, designed by Gove & Walsh, 1903.
November 17th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Denver brickwork
The Barteldes building downtown on Wyncoop.
Built 1906 by Gove & Walsh.
November 16th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
1800 Larimer
The brand new 1800 Larimer by RNL Architecture with the Xcel Energy penthouse at the top!
August 31st, 2010 / 1 Comment » / by Tom Lundin
Denver Hilton
The fenestration of the Hilton Hotel, designed by Araldo A. Cossutta as part of I.M. Pei’s Courthouse Square 1960.
August 17th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Denver skyline
Denver skyline in the late-1940s/early 1950s, before the first skyscraper.
Note the Phillips 66 sign and the red horse for Mobil Gas.
Courtesy of:
July 30th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
